3: Solve The Case, Save The World
by nurzubesuch
Summary: Last time Sylar told them he wanted to change. But can Shawn believe this is possible? Can anyone believe that? Especially now that Sylar seems to be the doombringer to the whole world ... Sequel to "Identity" and "Fallen Heroes"
1. In The Rise Of Darkness

**In the Rise of Darkness**

Detective Carlton Lassiter jumped out of the car, only a second after it´d stopped, and ran, over to the corner. He drew his gun, no conscious thought necessary, and flattened himself against the wall. His team gathered behind him – the few that were brave enough to keep up the force, even in these days.

Lassiter was proud of each and every one of them, even though he knew that for some of them, bravery was not the only reason to be here. For some – no, actually most of them – it was pure desperation. The simple fact that they had, like so many others, nothing else left than to do what they´d always believed to be the right thing. And it truly was something, that they still could believe that doing this job was the right thing.

Not everybody had been able to keep this conviction. Too many good men had stopped believing in this. They´d lost someone dear or they´d seen too much pain of others, cruelty that people seemed to do to each other these days as if it were a normal act of politeness.

Yes, Carlton could understand why people lost their faith. But he also knew that he couldn´t allow himself to give in to that pain, the way most of them did. He was one of the last and he had the damn responsibility to keep up the fight. This was his city and he wanted to be damned if he would allow it to drown in crime and violence. The law still existed and he would see to it being executed.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned around. Karen was crouching behind him. The dark purple lowlights in her bright blonde spiky hair confused his eyes for a moment. It was only afternoon but the sky was clouded and didn´t provide much light. And the corner where they were hiding was in the dark. But then Carlton´s eyes adjusted to the shady conditions and he saw her bright blue eyes. Awake and ready as always.

She nodded, nothing more, to let him know she´d be right behind him. Behind her, were his men, all of them ready to attack, as soon as he gave the signal. It was a good feeling to know that he could still count on them.

A cold breeze came up, blowing a curl of hair into his face. He wiped it away. It was overdue to cut it again, but so far he just hadn´t had the time for it. There were more pressing things to think about. And life had been cut short these last few years. Too short to worry about minor things like his haircut.

Again he threw a glance around the corner. He´d spotted the culprits on the other side of the square. It was hard to overlook them. One of the shops they´d busted was burning and they didn´t even try to be quiet. Probably didn´t expect anyone to get in their way. Well, this time they´d be wrong with that.

"We need to hurry." Carlton whispered. "We´ll attack from both sides. Karen. You lead your team over there. Wait for my signal."

"Okay." she answered, squeezing his shoulder one last time before she and three men left, to get to their position.

Carlton looked after them for a moment, hoping that it wouldn´t be the last time that he´d felt her hand. Everything was possible these days and they all knew it. But he needed to focus and so he fixed his gaze on the culprits. They were busy loading their booty on the truck.

Carlton narrowed his eyes, watching them. Keeping half of his attention on the surroundings, to check and make sure that, so far, really no one else was trying to disturb these guys.

"We need to hurry, before Spencer shows up." he whispered at his guys.

"Why?" one of them asked, boldly. "Shall he have them. Would spare us trouble."

Some of the others agreed with the speaker.

Carlton swirled around to the young officer, glaring at him. McNab was one of the few that had lost their families and had still decided to stay with him. Carlton respected that. A lot. That was the reason why he usually allowed him to speak freely to him while others had to ask for permission. Usually.

"You are here to shoot, McNab, not to think." he said.

"Yes, sir." was the short and hard answer.

Carlton knew he didn´t really discipline him with that, but for the moment it would have to do. He could take him aside and lecture him later. And he would. Being his right hand after Karen didn´t give Buzz the right to question him in front of the others.

Not that he couldn´t understand that particular question. But there was simply no way that he´d ever admit that. The law was the law and as long as he lived there was no one, not even Shawn Spencer, who´d be allowed to take it into his own hands. And Buzz knew that very damn well.

Carlton had just turned back to the square when he was already punished for his moment of inattention. Where there had been only the culprits a minute ago, there were now shots and shouting. Someone was attacking them and it wasn´t Karen and her team.

Carlton cursed and jumped up.

"Move in." he yelled, already on his way to cross the square. "S.B.P.D." he yelled on the top of his lungs. "Drop your weapons. You´re under arrest. Drop your weapons."

But the criminals didn´t even think of listening to him. The few of them who had the time to notice him and his orders, forgot their initial attacker and aimed at the police men instead. Carlton was forced to pull the trigger on one of them and McNab and the others did the same with the rest of the gang. It wasn´t even a minute after the whole thing had started and everything was already over. And even though Carlton was still hearing the sounds of gunfire he knew better than to confuse the sound of his own pounding heart with real shots. Experience had taught him to know the difference.

McNab and the others wandered through the fallen culprits, checking if any of them were still alive. The odds were against this possibility though. Carlton cursed. This could have gone different. Why, for god´s sake?

He spotted a figure, coming out of the shadows farther ahead. Carlton knew at once who it was. The man in the dark coat was holding a machine gun. One that was obviously empty now, because he threw it to the ground as if it were a piece of garbage. As replacement for it he took out a normal handgun. Probably just because he wasn´t used to walk around without a weapon in his hands. Even he could see that all of the criminals were dead. He should know. He´d killed them.

"God dammit, Spencer!" Carlton shouted at him.

The reaction in the younger man´s face was minor. He looked at him but that was all.

"The famous three words." he said bored. "Nice to see you too, Lassie."

"I told you to stay away from my operations." Carlton kept shouting into this careless face of a man he´d once considered the greatest annoyance of all time.

"Guess I didn´t get the memo." was all Shawn would reply. "You´re welcome, by the way."

"This is not a game, Spencer. You just killed seven men in cold blood."

"Eight." Shawn corrected. "There´s one more in the back of that shop."

"This is not a police state." Carlton cried.

"Obviously not." Shawn replied with a twitch of his eyebrow and something that was probably meant as a cynical smirk.

Carlton lost his patience and pushed Shawn against the wall. "I should arrest you for multiple murder." he hissed at him.

The face before him was the same as before, not a single change in the features that once had looked younger than his own. Now they only looked less wrinkled. One more time Carlton couldn´t help but shivered over that change Shawn had gone through in such a technically short time. One year was not that long. But it had felt like a lifetime, for all of them. And when he looked into that face before him now, he could see every mark of that lifetime, standing out clearly.

The shadow on Shawn´s face was darker than it used to be and his eyes lay deep within their sockets. His hair was cut so short, it barely existed anymore. He almost looked like a skull.

The man Carlton had once known, didn´t look at him now. The man looking at him now was someone else. Someone who didn´t even remember the meaning of the word smile. Or life. The man he was looking at was dead inside. And the only thing left in his heart was hate.

"I´d like to see you try putting me in a cell." Shawn now said, without any kind emotional attachment.

Carlton was still too shaken to resist when Shawn pushed him back. For a moment they just stood there, looking at each other. The cop and the outlaw. Again Carlton wondered how they could have ended up in this place. Not just Shawn. All of them. He wondered and of course he knew the answer.

Eventually Shawn smirked, humorlessly. "Look at you." he said. "You´ve softened. You´re weak."

"You´re nothing better than these criminals you just shot." Carlton replied. "What do you think Juliet would say to that?"

"She agrees with me." Shawn told him.

Carlton just stared at him, in shock, and Shawn´s only reaction was a smile.

"What did you think?" he asked. "She´s the reason why I´m doing this. She´s always been the reason. Do you really think she´d want these assholes to terrorize the city? You don´t know her as good as you thought you´d do."

"Spencer."

"I do what she wants me to do."

"Spencer."

"I´m doing your job here. When will you finally realize that?"

"Shawn, stop it." Carlton cried. "You´ve got to stop. You´ve got to stop talking to them. Why are you doing this to yourself?"

For a moment Shawn looked at him, as if he didn´t even understand the question. "Because they are the only people that I´ve got left." he said at last.

"That´s not true." Carlton argued. "I´m still here. And Karen. I offered you to come and stay with us. This offer still stands."

"Stay with you?" Shawn repeated. "What for? To watch you, while you´re doing it? No thanks."

"Shawn."

"Excuse me." the other man said gruffly. "My family is waiting for me."

"Shawn. You shouldn´t live in that house any longer. It´s not save there."

"We´re doing good." Shawn told him, not looking back.

"It´s getting colder and colder each day." Carlton cried after him. "You don´t even have a heater."

This time Shawn turned around for a moment, but he kept walking away from him anyway. "So what?" he asked. "There´s a lot of wood that I can burn, isn´t there?"

"Shawn!"

"See ya later." he grumbled. "But honestly. I´m touched by your concern, detective."

"You´re not the only one who lost someone, Shawn!" Carlton shouted after him. But this time his words weren´t answered anymore. The last thing he heard was the engine of Shawn´s motorcycle roaring up, quickly fading away in the distance.

**...**

It was getting darker while Shawn rode his bike back home. Not because of the night coming, that was still some hours ahead, but because of the snow that would come falling down very soon. It was snowing like that almost every day now. Times were getting colder and so was the weather. And it wasn´t the freaking global warming that had caused this change. God, no. But global it was. The news were not lying about that. Last time they´d heard something, it had said that it was even snowing in Africa by now. And it was getting worse each week as it seemed.

Shawn couldn´t care less. Should the end come, he didn´t care. There was nothing they could do anyway. So why bother?

The streets lay abandoned, at least the one he was driving right now. He took a turn and had to hit the brakes, when two crashed cars suddenly blocked the road. Somehow he managed it to stop without crashing into them himself. It was close though. Just a few inches closer and he´d been Shawn Sushi. One more close death he´d escaped. Whatever.

While he looked around to decide how to drive on, he heard screams. A girl and some guy. The girl was gasping, obviously not okay with what the guy was doing. Shawn didn´t need to see them to know what was going on. The sounds were coming from an allay not far away. He dismounted his bike and walked over to the place.

Inside of that alley, he found the guy busy pressing the girl against the wall, trying to open his pants with one hand. She was maybe nineteen years old, had dark blonde hair and the most desperate eyes a girl could have, even in this world.

Shawn didn´t call out for the guy to stop but walked right up to him. On his way, he grabbed an iron bar from a heap of junk. He could have taken his gun but for some reason this wouldn´t be right. Not for him. The sucker was so busy with the girl, he didn´t even hear him coming … until Shawn wagged the bar over his head, ending his party with that.

The girl shrieked and backed off immediately. Her eyes were big with fear and uncertainty if Shawn was her savior or just another guy who wanted her for himself. Shawn looked at her for a moment and then turned to the bastard on the ground. When he looked up at him, angry and ready to pay him back that strike, Shawn dropped the bar.

For a moment the raper was puzzled. Why should a guy like Shawn, who was probably only half as big as he was, drop a perfectly suitable weapon, when he had to know that he was about to get his ass kicked? But he shouldn´t ask himself that question for too long. A second later Shawn was already at him, had grabbed his ears and pulled him up. The man screamed when the pain seemed to rip his ears off his head. A moment later this very head was smashed down to the ground and he stopped screaming.

Good, Shawn thought. There´s nothing you could win with your screaming anyway. He brought his head down to the ground once again. And again. And again. Until he heard the cracking sound of bones crushing and the wet sound that followed when he hit the broken head to the ground one more time.

Shawn was panting. Now he felt better. This guy would think twice before he tried to rape another girl. Or maybe he wouldn´t.

Slowly he got up, the dead guy lying beneath him like a deformed roadkill. When Shawn looked ahead he saw the girl. She was still standing there, staring at him wide eyed. He didn´t say anything, just looked back at her. Eventually she started to back off and ran away.

"You´re welcome." Shawn murmured into the empty street.

He turned around and slowly made his way back to his bike. He´d just reached the end of the alley when he heard a sound. Was that asshole still alive after all? But when he turned around he learned that it was only two kids, who probably had been hiding somewhere. They were sneaking over to the dead guy to check his pockets.

When they noticed that Shawn had seen them, they halted in their actions. But since Shawn didn´t do anything, either calling out or coming back for them, they went on with their business of robbing the dead guy.

Shawn watched them for a while. A life was worth so little these days. Eventually he turned around and left. It was time for him to get home.

**...**

When he reached his father´s house, it had already started snowing. Driving sleet was blowing into his face the last few streets before he finally got there. He parked the bike at the curbside and walked through the garden to the back door. The front door was no use, it was buried under rubble just like the garage and most of the front half of the house. The garden looked still the same – if Henry would have let it rot all along, the way it was rotting for over a year now.

Shawn opened the door. It wasn´t locked, there was no sense in locking the door of a house that had been smashed like this. People were avoiding those houses if they could, as if they were haunted or something. Shawn didn´t believe that. And even if they would be, he wouldn´t care. This was his father´s house and if he should die in it because it was "haunted", so be it.

"I´m home!" he cried out, stepping in. He was greeted by the same silence that greeted him every day. He shivered a little. "Gosh, dad, ever thought about a new insolation?"

He walked over to the chimney and started to make a fire. It had been no joke when he´d told Lassiter that he´d have to burn some of the wood the house had been made of. So far he´d been able to economize but soon he´d run out of the roof truss. Whatever. He took a seat on the couch and leaned back, his eyes fixed on the three pictures that stood on the sill over the fireplace. The three most important people in his life. Juliet, Gus and his father.

"How was your day?" he asked in the silent room.

Juliet´s picture answered him with the same sweet smile he always got for an answer. He smiled back and nodded as if that was exactly what he´d expected.

"Same here." he said. "What? Oh, nothing special. Lassie sends his greetings by the way. He seems to do good. Repeated his offer again. I know. I know but … you know. I just can´t. I don´t know. Maybe …" he stopped himself and gazed at the picture of his father. "Don´t say it." he demanded. "I don´t wanna hear it. Don´t you think it´s a better idea that we´re not all in the same place, just in case? If you guys wouldn´t have been in the same place that day, maybe …"

He stopped once again, but this time not because he wanted to. This time it was because he couldn´t go on. He was choking. He didn´t want to cry, especially not in front of his dad. But in the end he couldn´t help it. God, he hated this.

Outside the sleet was getting heavier. A thin layer of whiteness covered the grass in front of his dad´s house. Sleet that would melt away again, just like always. Someday that might change, when the air would get even colder than it was already, but so far it was still melting the ice and snow that came falling down. In other places of the world they were not that lucky. It was funny but the end always seemed accompanied by coldness and darkness. It was total cliché but it was true.

When Shawn couldn´t stand the accusing gaze of his father any longer, he got up from the couch and walked to the window. For a while he just stood there and looked out.

After a while the driving sleet was getting thinner again and a few minutes after that, it stopped completely. The sky was even getting a little brighter again. The last few beams of daylight before night would settle down. Jules would have called it a sign of hope. Shawn was not so sure. Hope was a luxury he couldn´t afford anymore. Or maybe he just didn´t want to.

His eyes left the brightening sky and fell down to earth again, to the gate on the other side of his dad´s grass. Someone was standing there. A small guy with the stature of a cargo box and hanging shoulders. Shawn had no idea how long he´d been standing there or where he had come from. But this guy wasn´t here for sightseeing. Immediately Shawn went back to the chimney, to get his gun.

"I don´t know." he said, remaining next to his best friend´s picture for a moment. "Don´t worry, I´ll ask him. You just stay here. I´ll be right back."

With that he went to the door and opened it. The guy was halfway on the way to the door, when Shawn aimed his gun at him.

"That´s close enough." he said and the guy halted.

He was a Chinese guy, Shawn could see now. He was wearing spectacles and when he saw Shawn´s gun, he raised his hands and his eyes became as big as golf balls.

"Don´t shoot." he cried with a very high and very typical Chinese guy voice. He had a very strong accent. "I´m not a bad guy." he assured him.

Shawn looked him up and down. He didn´t think that the guy was dangerous but one could never be sure these days.

"Are you Shawn Spencer?" he asked him now, his hands still in the air.

"Who wants to know that?" Shawn asked back.

"My name is Hiro Nakamura." the Chinese guy introduced himself. "Dr. Suresh sent me to you."

"Suresh?" Shawn repeated. He´d been looking for him but had never found him. The geneticist had probably known what would happen if he should ever find him. "Where is he?" Shawn now asked the small man before him.

"He´s dead." was the sad answer. "I found him dying after some bad people attacked him."

Shawn narrowed his eyes. What a shame, he thought. "Happens." was all he said out loud. "Why did he send you to me?"

"He said you might be able to tell me what happened to the future." Hiro said with a tiny but hopeful voice. There was a very desperate and sad look in his eyes.

Shawn could only chuckle. "You´re some funny guy." he said. "Look around. There is no future."

The look in Hiro´s eyes didn´t change. "Why?" was all he asked.

Shawn aimed his gun at him for one more minute. Then he decided that the guy was probably harmless and lowered his gun. Hiro lowered his arms in response. He was still looking at him with those desperate and asking eyes. What happened to the future, he´d wanted to know. Shawn chuckled again. Well, if he needed to know so desperately, he could as well give him an answer.

"You ever heard the name Sylar?" he asked.


	2. Something In The Air

**Something in the Air**

**Okay, people. Just to eliminate all confusions right from the start. This last chapter was a dark version of the future (maybe you guessed that from Hiro´s words at the end) and from now on we are back in the present again. How long it will stay that nice is up to our Heroes ;)**

**Enjoy.**

* * *

><p>Present day:<p>

The taxi changed the lane and took the exit to the airport. At the gates it finally stopped, the guest already gathering his utensils. A suitcase, a coat and a cane with a silver top in shape of a wolf´s head. The man himself was wearing a fine suit with tie. Not a bad customer to drive.

"That makes forty twelve, my friend." Mohinder Suresh said, looking at the man in the rear view mirror.

The wealthy man payed him exactly forty one dollars. Mohinder took it with a polite smile. "Have a nice flight, sir." he said and tried not to add cheap bastard in his thoughts.

The man got out and was gone. For a moment, Mohinder just sat there and looked out. Thinking. Who´d thought that he´d be back to driving a taxi again? Back in the days when he´d first come to America it had been a necessity. But now? The same in some way.

It didn´t really matter. He was here. And not by choice. At least not fully. The assignment he´d agreed to take required at least a regular income and driving a taxi was something he was familiar with – as well as low tips.

He sighed. It was a ridiculous situation he was in. He was a geneticist not a cab driver. But he´d gotten himself into this so there was no room for complaining now. It had been two months now since he´d accepted this strange sort of fate´s humor on him. To play probational officer was not what he was. He wasn´t meant for something like that, especially not for a man like Sylar. The one person on earth that was almost certainly not to be rehabilitated. Ever.

Why had he agreed to this arrangement again? Surely not because Sylar had given his word to be better from now on. What reasonable thinking person could ever believe this? But he´d agreed to it because there simply had been no other option. Locking him up was impossible since the Company didn´t exist any longer – not in its original form – and before it would exist again, Sylar would have been gone and undetectable.

No, somebody had to have an eye on him and it had turned out to be him. Strange enough, Sylar had chosen him as his warden himself. Had even given him the weapon that could keep him controlled, a weapon that could maybe even kill him. Even though Mohinder wasn´t completely sure about that last part. After all that he knew about Claire Bennet´s regeneration power, there was nothing that could kill Sylar. But he could cause pain with that remote and no one, not even Sylar could stand pain forever. If he would really want to, Mohinder believed that he could kill him with the little device.

His hand wandered down to his pocket, to make sure it was still there. It was. He never went anywhere without it. Just in case. And if the geneticist would have allowed himself to think this whole thing a little further, he might have considered the idea that he even wanted Sylar to slip, so he´d have a reason to use that remote on him.

But Mohinder didn´t allow such thoughts anymore. He´d escaped this monster in his own soul and now he had to take responsibility for the monster Sylar was. And he did. With his own methods.

If Sylar had expected him to do what he´d done years ago, taking him along while he tried to look up people with abilities, he´d been up for a surprise. As long as Mohinder wasn´t sure about Sylar´s conversion to the good people – and let´s be honest friends and neighbors, he´d never really believe that – he would not allow this murderer to come even remotely close to a person with an ability. Not if he could help it.

So he´d assigned him to take care of their income, just like he did. To do his part and to prove himself as a well behaved citizen so to say. (Yeah, as if) But the argument had seemingly worked for Sylar to comply and now Mohinder could at least be sure that his charge would be occupied with something harmless, while he was driving around the city.

If he´d leave work without permission during the day, Mohinder would know from Sylar´s boss and if he wouldn´t have a good explanation then … but there would never be a good explanation in Sylar´s case anyway.

Mohinder had done everything he could. So far there´d been no trouble, except for the trouble in his own mind. Sometimes Mohinder felt so tired, he had no idea how long he´d be able to keep the whole thing up. To watch over a man like Sylar (say, to make sure he wouldn´t kill anyone) was a task for a lifetime and Mohinder was not ready to keep this up that long.

In some way, he had once dedicated his life to Sylar but he´d dedicated it to kill the man, not to guide him. Or to give therapy to him. Even less to get therapy _from_ him. God. But that was exactly what this had turned out to be. Sylar was almost annoyingly attached to him since they´d settled down to this whole insanity. In every free minute he was around him, trying to tell him how he felt about the whole idea of changing and that he could understand so well how Mohinder must feel himself about the experience to be confronted with his own demons. Bla bla bla. Sometimes Mohinder believed the man had no need for any form of sleep.

What troubled him even more though was the fact that he´d started to believe some of the things Sylar told him. When he talked about his wish to stop being a murderer, he seemed honest. Not that Mohinder could ever believe that he´d be able to really make it true. Sylar always believed in too much at once. He would try to lift the whole world with one finger if someone told him convincingly enough that he could do it.

Not that he was totally insane about all this. Another part of Sylar´s mind was as sharp as always and could estimate his situation very well. He knew how lucky he was that he´d gotten this chance, that he didn´t have to carve out a miserable existence in a cell of the Company. And he knew that he needed help.

That was almost the biggest joke in all of this but it was true, Mohinder had to admit that. After this one talk they´d had about this topic, he couldn´t deny that particular truth anymore. The talk had started with him telling Sylar, that he wasn´t responsible for him and his life. That just because he had agreed to this arrangement didn´t mean that he had to keep it up.

"You promised to help me." Sylar had replied and Mohinder´d look at him, estimating.

"To not to kill anyone?" he´d asked him, confronting.

Somehow he must have hit a nerve with that because he´d seen guilt in the killer´s eyes.

At last Sylar had admitted: "Yes. … I mean I would try on my own of course." he´d said, looking into another direction. "But sometimes I´m just not strong enough … against this hunger and then I´ll need help. I would ask Peter but he has his life in New York and … I just can´t go back there. Not yet. We don´t know what the Company will do when they rearranged their management but it´s quite possible that they´ll come for me. And then I´d have to run again."

"Of course you had to." Mohinder had commented, his voice full of cynicism.

"Hey, you know what they´d do to me." Sylar had cried out at this, almost furious. "You of all people should know. All right, I might be ready to go to prison for what I did. But I won´t be a guinea pig anymore!"

And in this moment Mohinder had realized something he´d effectively avoided so far. The memory of his own actions back at the Company. The tortures he´d treated Sylar with and the sick pleasure he´d gained from it. He´d felt guilty again and that was something he hadn´t wanted to allow. But it had happened and Sylar had known that. He was playing this card in a very slick way and even though Mohinder knew that, he couldn´t jump over his own shadow that easily.

The simple fact was, that he was stuck in this situation with Sylar, until he found a way out of it. And he had the bad feeling that the only way out would be over one of their dead bodies.

Somebody knocked on his window, startling him out of his thoughts. He looked up, facing a man standing by his cab. He was wearing a dark leather jacket and had a look like a somehow shady rocker. But he had kind eyes and he addressed Mohinder with a polite: "Excuse me?"

Mohinder opened the window, and the man gave him a grateful smile. "Are you waiting for someone or is the cab free?"

"Oh, the cab´s free of course." Mohinder answered. "Where do you want to go?"

"To town." the man answered and named a street. Mohinder noticed that there were several cases and bags behind him. He´d also spoken with a slight accent so he was probably a tourist. Mohinder offered his help with the luggage and after they´d stored them in the trunk, he drove off the airport.

His guest was a quieter man than he´d expected, so the ride was a silent one. It allowed Mohinder´s thoughts to drift off again and back to his main problem.

It had been a risky choice to stay in Santa Barbara, he knew that. But Sylar was dangerous no matter where he was and by staying close to Santa Barbara, Mohinder had at least some forces to call, in case of an emergency.

Bennet was still in town, he knew and the detectives of the S.B.P.D. would be there as well to stop the killer if necessary. So he´d chosen a stay nearby, far enough outside to keep Sylar from running into those people, but close enough to be in reach for help. So far Mohinder was still convinced that such a help could be needed any time. That was the reason why he didn´t only keep the remote but also his cell phone in permanent reach.

They reached the address his guest had named, about half an hour after they´d left the airport. Mohinder was a little surprised that it was not a hotel but a small house.

"That the place?" he asked and the man nodded.

"What do you get?"

"Thirty two dollars." Mohinder said and got forty. And that from a guy who looked like he couldn´t even afford a razor. People were funny.

"You seem to have something heavy on your mind." his guest mentioned.

Mohinder looked at him startled. "That obvious?" he asked and got a smile.

"Family?" his customer asked.

"Something like that." Mohinder replied vaguely and hoped that would be enough for this man. It seemed to be. He only nodded.

"Family can be a troublesome theme." he said.

For a moment, Mohinder was tempted to say some more, but he decided otherwise. This guy only made a polite comment and probably didn´t really care about the whole truth. He also couldn´t know how close he´d just hit to another point in Mohinder´s mind. His family.

He´d thought about visiting them. After his cousin´s death it would be only a matter of politeness to do so. But he´d decided against it. The resemblance between him and Rajesh would have hurt them too much to be worth it, he figured. And he´d never been very close to them anyway.

His customer left the taxi and Mohinder helped him to get his luggage out of the trunk. An elderly woman came out of the house to greet her guest. At least someone who had no problem visiting his relatives. Mohinder told them his goodbye and then drove off, off to another round of driving the streets, while his thoughts would drive the worst case scenarios over and over again.

Mohinder sighed. Maybe he was just thinking too much.

**...**

In that night, unnoticed by the geneticist, Sylar stood in the parking lot of the motel that served them as their current residence and listened to the howling of the wind. He listened and wondered, wondered about that tingling sensation he felt in the air. It was a familiar sensation, a feeling that was so close to the hunger that he could only call it bug fever, because he didn´t have a better name for it.

The need to hunt. Sylar could feel it very strongly. Something was in the air and it was tempting. A hunter could stay away from the hunt only for so long and he had always been a predator by nature. Sylar didn´t know why he felt it again so strongly all the sudden but at a certain point, wondering would just vanish and give place for the need. The urge. The hunger. Something was calling him out and the beast inside was anxious to follow that call.

Sylar knew that. He knew it because he knew himself. When he would reach that state, none of his promises would matter anymore. All of his assurances that he was trying, all his good intentions would be forgotten. Because then the monster inside of him would take over again and no matter how much he wanted it, he would simply be too weak to resist it.

Oh, yes, he could feel it. It was coming. Slowly but oh, so strong. Too strong. Too tempting. Too wonderful to resist. It was one o´clock a.m. at September the twenty-second. And Sylar could feel the call that came out of the darkness of the night.

**...**

A human´s life, at least the life of an average, normal person´s life, could last when he was lucky somewhat around eighty to ninety years. Some made it even further. Some not even that far. It really depended on the condition, the way of life, maybe the place where a person lived and lots and lots of other odds that had their part in it. But the average was eighty to ninety.

Within that time a lot of things could happen to a person. This person could see a lot of things. Some nice, some bad, some almost unbelievable and sometimes even impossible things. Shawn Spencer had seen almost all of these varieties within only one year. This last year to be precise.

He´d seen a man getting shot to death and come back to life, he´d seen the same man changing his face into his and later, into the face of his girlfriend. He´d seen this man in his dreams and that way he´d lived a part of this man´s life, along with him, for a while. And as if those things weren´t enough already to feed someone´s need for impossible things, he´d experienced something even more unbelievable. Something that almost could be called a miracle. But for him it had rather been a horror experience. Because this one experience had actually killed him.

If anyone ever claimed that coming back from the dead was something magical that opened up new spheres for the spirit, Shawn could personally attest that this was a lie. It was nothing like that. It was only frightening and it had totally freaked him out. He hadn´t been able to get The Night Of The Living Dead out of his head for at least two weeks. Now he was able to think of that film without seeing himself in the place of one of those stumbling zombies. But that wasn´t the main point. The whole dying in the first place was the main point.

It had never happened to him before that he contemplated his own mortality or the one of the people closest to him in such a serious way. And that was the reason why he was sitting on this bench in Durham-Street right now, his bike parked at the curbside a few feet behind him, and a newspaper in his hand that he didn´t read. Because he wanted to make sure that something like that what had killed him the other night in Jules´ place, would never happen again.

They´d told them that the Company had been reorganized, after Frederic Roth had been put out. But who told them that this was the truth? It was a secret agency and when Shawn had learned anything in twenty years of studying film history, he knew one thing. Secret agencies like that were never to be trusted. Not really.

The front door of the building in Durham-Street was opened and someone came out. It was a woman. She wore the uniform of the typical desk clerk. And she headed straight for Shawn´s bench. Shawn immediately raised his newspaper and pretended to read highly concentrated in a dog food advertisement. It didn´t help though. Her steps came closer and at last she stopped before him and her voice demanded: "Sir, I´m inclined to ask you politely to leave."

Shawn looked over the edge of his newspaper and showed her his best innocent face. "What? Me?"

"Yes." she said, not a bit buying what he pretended.

"But, I´m just reading my paper." Shawn claimed. "And as far as I can see this is a public place. Or is it? I dunno." he looked the bench over demonstratively. "Gee, no, there´s no sign here that says parking only from eight till four or something like that. And even if, it´s only …" he looked at his watch only to find that he´d forgotten to take it on this morning. He hadn´t slept well lately.

"We noticed that you sat here every second day these last few weeks." the desk clerk said.

"So what?" Shawn asked.

She rolled her eyes. "It´s starting to get ridiculous."

"Well, I hear that quite often, so I guess I can live with it."

"You´re not going to leave?" she asked him.

Shawn raised his newspaper again. "Not before I´m done with the sport." he said and leaned back. He took good care to not let her see his face again.

After another minute she sighed angrily and walked away, back to her desk, probably to tell her bosses that the annoying guy from the bench was not going to go away.

Shawn followed her with his eyes until she vanished inside the building. He sighed and leaned back again. What a shame. She seemed to be a nice girl, except for the fact that she worked for an organization of hitmen that tended to kill people in the night.

While looking at the front door of the Company, Shawn realized that he started to doze off a little. He really hadn´t slept well last night and that seemed to get him now. His eyelids got heavier and he sighed deeply. What was wrong with him? Usually he didn´t have problems sleeping. Not even while he´d dreamed of Sylar he´d had problems sleeping. And now all the sudden he suffered from insomnia? This didn´t make any sense.

Only that it made perfect sense. Gus didn´t believe it. He called him paranoid, but Shawn knew that somebody was following him. Watching him. And who else but the Company would have a reason to do so? They hadn´t gotten him the first time and now they were waiting for the right moment to finish it. And this time they´d make sure that there was no coming back for him.

Shawn groaned and wiped his hands over his face. Maybe he was really just too sleep deprived. Even in his head that sounded ridiculous. But he just couldn´t help it. He might not be really psychic but he noticed it when someone was sneaking around him. And someone _was_ sneaking around him.

"Nice Trenchcoat." a male voice spoke up behind him and Shawn flinched. He turned around to look straight into the face of Noah Bennet. The older man with the recognizable glasses walked around the bench and sat down next to him.

"Thanks." Shawn said, a little irritated.

Noah smiled slightly and threw a look at the door through which the desk clerk had just vanished, only a minute ago. "You got her number?" he asked Shawn.

Shawn chuckled. "I doubt that she´ll want to see me again." he said.

"Hmhm." was all the comment Bennet would give to that. He looked at Shawn, musing. "Then why do you keep coming back here?" he asked him.

"Are you kidding?" Shawn cried. "These guys sent a killer commando for me. I want to make sure they won´t do it again."

Now Bennet really smiled. It was a smile one would give a little child that just refused to understand a simple truth.

"Believe me." he said. "If the Company would plan to send another commando for you, you wouldn´t find it out by sitting here and staring at their front door. Especially not since they know that you´re here."

"Exactly." Shawn replied. "They shall know that they´re watched."

Bennet chuckled and shook his head. "Shawn. I can assure you, we _are_ watching them. And so far they are not doing anything but reorganizing themselves after Roth´s regime was taken out of order."

"You sure?"

Bennet nodded at him confidently. "Yes."

"How do you know?" Shawn asked. "You hacked into their system? You have a spy in there?"

"We have our methods." Bennet assured him.

There was something in his voice that made Shawn feel small. All the sudden he really felt ridiculous sitting here in his Trenchcoat, pretending to read the newspaper and trying to do a job others like this man next to him, had much more experience with.

"And we´ll also watch out for you and Juliet." Bennet went on. "You´ve got nothing to worry about."

"What do you mean?" Shawn looked at him baffled. "You´re stalking us?"

"No." Bennet replied completely serious. "But once in a while we check on you, to make sure everything is all right."

"And that´s what I would call stalking." Shawn insisted.

"You´d prefer it we stayed away?" Bennet asked him confrontatively. "Would be fine for me. I just thought you´d appreciate a little help. Maybe protection. But if you don´t want to …"

"I didn´t say that." Shawn hurried to stop him. "It´s just the idea of you guys looking through our window when we´re in the middle of … you know."

"Don´t worry." Bennet smiled. "We look away at the delicate moments."

Shawn looked him over for a moment, trying to figure out if he was joking or not. He failed. This man was just unreadable. But at least he seemed honest. Damn, they had fought against the biggest nightmare together. Literally.

"Okay." he said at last.

"Okay?" Bennet asked for confirmation and Shawn nodded.

"Yeah, okay. Okay." He hesitated and then asked: "When was the last time you … checked on us?"

Bennet seemed to think about it. "A week ago?" he guessed. "Why? Are there any problems? You need help with something?"

"No." Shawn lied and wondered simultaneously why he didn´t ask Bennet for help with his pursuers. Maybe he still wasn´t sure if his suspicions were real and simply wanted to spare himself the embarrassment in case they really weren´t. He leaned back and sighed. This was just ridiculous.

For a moment they just sat there in silence. But eventually Shawn glanced over to Bennet again. "How are the others?" he asked as nonchalantly as possible.

"Claire´s back with her friends." Bennet told him. "We talk once in a while on the phone. She´s still mad with me for covering up her opening back then. But she´s talking to me."

"Good for you. And the others?"

"Lauren is in Washington for a week. CIA conference. Peter and his mother went back to New York. I guess Angela hopes that she´ll be able to get back into the Company somehow. And the way I know her, she´ll somehow make it. Wouldn´t be the worst that could happen. She can be a bad-ass but she has compassion. And she´s a Special so a way like Roth had wanted it wouldn´t happen under her lead. Not a second time at least. This time she´ll be more aware."

Shawn nodded as politely as possible. "What about Sylar?" he asked, when he couldn´t stand it anymore.

"He behaves." was all Bennet said.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"You know where they are?" Shawn probed.

"Why? Are you afraid he could come back for you? Or Juliet?"

"No." Shawn claimed. "I just … You don´t happen to know where they are exactly?"

Bennet gave him a long look. "You wouldn´t do anything stupid and try to spy on him too, would you?" he asked.

"Pfffft." Shawn made and tried to laugh. "Nooo. I´m just curious."

He looked at Bennet waiting but didn´t get any answer. Only a knowing smile. It was the bell that saved him from this awkward moment. Or better his ring tone did. He had to look for his cell phone in some of the pockets of his Trenchcoat before he finally found it.

"Spencer." he said when he answered the call.

"Shawn, is that you?" Gus asked him confused.

"Of course it´s me, Gus."

"Since when do you answer so formal?"

"Since … listen, it doesn´t matter. What is it?"

"Juliet just called me." Gus informed him.

"Why is she calling you?" Shawn asked irritated.

"Because I´m in our office and the phone is on my desk, Shawn." Gus explained slowly so Shawn would understand. "She said another person´s gone missing."

"That´d be the fourth in two weeks." Shawn cried and got a side glance from Bennet.

"Yeah. We are supposed to come to an apartment house in Kendus Street at once." Gus told him. "Shall I pick you up somewhere?"

"No. No, I´m with my bike. See you there." He hung up and let the cell slip back into his pocket.

"Work?" Bennet asked.

"Yeah. A series of missing people. That´s the fourth one. Lassie thinks it´s a serial killer." he could only shrug.

"I read about that." Bennet affirmed. "Sounds mysterious."

"Yeah." Shawn agreed. He felt slightly frustrated. A case in which he had no clue was always frustrating. He got up. "I´ve got to go."

Bennet nodded. "Good luck." he said.

Yeah, luck was definitely something he could need on this case, Shawn thought when he mounted his bike and drove off. It didn´t happen very often that he agreed with Lassie but in this case he was sure that the head detective was right. Four missing people and not one ransom note. There was only one conclusions to that that made sense. A serial killer was on the loose in Santa Barbara. Once again.

Only that this one didn´t leave anything behind they could use to find him. It was mysterious, just like Bennet said. As if the people just disappeared into thin air. That was creepy. It was even creepier than the stuff Sylar had pulled off when he came to Santa Barbara.

Shawn stopped his bike at a streetlight. Ahead he saw a public fountain, or better what was left of it. The rest of it had been sealed off with crime scene tape, two days ago. That was the second thing that troubled the city lately. A bunch of vandals who seemed to be quite pissed because their team didn´t win. Or maybe they just disliked public places. They would ask them as soon as they found out who they were. This fountain was the last thing they´d clopped down in their destruction spree. Other things they´d destroyed were park areas, shopping miles and one playground. Who dismantled a children´s playground?

Shawn stared ahead in frustration. That was so not fair. He should feel excited when being called to a case. Even being scared was all right. But to feel only frustrated because he didn´t know what to do was … just not fair.

His gaze fell on a shop window nearby. He saw his own reflection and the reflection of the other pedestrians and traffic members. There was a figure in the background, a man that stood on the other side of the street, behind Shawn. He was wearing a dark coat and a black cap. Shawn couldn´t see his face but he was sure the guy was looking directly at him.

Immediately Shawn swirled around to look at him for real and not just his reflection. But there was no one. The place where he´d seen him was deserted. Shawn looked into the shop window again and the reflection was gone too. He looked around but there was no one in a black coat anywhere on this street. And places to hide were pretty rare, going to not existent. What the hell?

The streetlight switched back to green and Shawn had to go on. Dammit, he thought. He really missed a good night full of sleep. When he started seeing things now, things definitely had started to go downhill.

**...**

Behind Shawn on the park bench, Bennet´s cell phone started to ring. He checked the caller ID and sighed. He should have known that he would call him, earlier or later.

"Bennet."

"Carlton Lassiter." the head detective of the S.B.P.D. said.

"I know." Bennet said. "And no, I don´t have the files yet."

"You promised I´d get them this Monday." Lassiter recalled.

"I know what I promised. I was busy with other things. And so were you as far as I know. Shouldn´t you be on a crime scene by now?"

"How do you know?" Lassiter asked and Bennet could even see the frown on his face, how he looked around to check if Bennet wasn´t standing on the other side of the street by any chance. "Do you listen in on our police radio?" he then asked him.

"No." Bennet said. "I just had a little chat with your psychic friend. I found him sitting in Durham- Street, watching the Company-building like Humphrey Bogart himself. He got the call just a minute ago."

"Crap." Lassiter grumbled. "That means he´ll be here any second now. Thanks for the warning."

"Any time."

"What about the files?" Lassiter came back to the point.

"Listen." Bennet sighed. "I already told Shawn and I feel inclined to tell you the same. Let go of this, Carlton. No good can come of this. Believe me."

"I will let go." Lassiter said. "After I read those files."

Bennet uttered another sigh. "You´ll have them soon." he then promised. "I´ll bring them over by the end of the week." and with a glance over to the Company building he added: "As soon as I finished my other business."

"Great." Lassiter triumphed. "Listen. I´ve got to go. Spencer is about to invade my crime scene."

"Good luck." Noah said and hung up.

He sighed once again. It seemed that he used this phrase far too often lately. He just hoped it wouldn´t stay an empty wish. His gaze fell down to the newspaper Shawn had left behind and its leading article. "Three missing people in two weeks – police still in the dark." it read.

They had no idea how right they were, Bennet thought. Oh, if they only knew how right they were.


	3. New Case, New Luck

**New Case, New Luck**

Carlton Lassiter sat in his car in Kendus Street. He´d been faster than his partner because he´d been for lunch in this area anyway. It was harder and harder for him to stay in the station these last few weeks. The last two weeks in particular, since some bastard was kidnapping people in his city, right under his very nose. Now he´d done it again. Lassiter was determined to bust this son of a bitch.

Now he waited for O´Hara to arrive before he´d go in to talk to the woman who´d called to report her daughter missing. The forth victim on this sick bastard´s record.

Usually Lassiter wouldn´t have waited for O´Hara before he went in to question the witness. This case was eating away his good sleep, like always when a serial killer was on the loose in his city. What was it that Santa Barbara seemed to be a magnet for all the crazy serial killers lately? But that was exactly the problem. There wasn´t just one serial killer he was currently worried about. He´d just gotten off the phone with Bennet to make sure his business with one of the two was taken care of. Now he was looking ahead, ready to take care of the second one, and saw his partner´s car approaching – and as if they´d come in a convoy, Guster´s blue car and a motorcycle were following her. Lassiter got out of the car.

"O´Hara. Finally." he greeted and with a suppressed smirk he noticed Shawn´s ridiculous disguise. Humphrey Bogart my ass, he thought, and for the first time in two weeks he´d forgotten his rage about the case – for ten seconds at least.

"Spencer, what the hell are you wearing?" he asked as if he didn´t know already.

"Sorry, Lassie." Shawn replied with one of his typical smirks. He had his hands in the pockets of his trench coat and looked at him as if he knew something that only adepts could know. "I had some important psychic business to attempt." he informed him. "But now my service is all yours."

Next to him, Guster rolled his eyes.

"Spying on the Company is none of your business, Spencer." Lassiter told him unimpressed.

Shawn´s smiling face was replaced by a startled frown. "How do _you_ know?" he asked.

Lassiter cheered inside. "Maybe I´m a little psychic too." he said and confused the fake psychic even more.

Guster raised both eyebrows in surprise.

"Shawn." O´Hara´s voice interrupted Lassiter´s triumph and ended the oh so delicate situation. "Were you really there again?" she asked.

"I …" the fake psychic and poor Bogart imitation stuttered.

"I told you, you are imagining these things." Gus came from the other side.

"I´m not." Shawn cried. "There are people following me."

"And that is long overdue." Lassiter said. "They are not wearing long white coats and stethoscopes by any chance?"

"Carlton, please." O´Hara made him stop grinning.

"Excuse me." a female voice called them and when they turned around a small and very upset looking woman came up to them from the front door of the building. "Are you the detectives that were supposed to come over?" she asked them.

"Yes, Ma´am." Lassiter told her, all business again. "I´m detective Lassiter and this is my partner detective O´Hara. You are Missus Rosalie Payton I assume."

"Yes, I called you because of Veronica." Mrs. Payton said and looked at Shawn and Gus with a frown.

"You don´t need to pay attention to the these two." Lassiter told her. "They are just decoration."

"What?" Gus cried offended.

"Au contraire." Shawn said and faced Mrs. Payton. "I´m the head psychic of the department." he introduced himself. "Shawn Spencer. And this is my partner Gus Drop Rouxle. Maybe you´ve heard of us."

"Oh, yes, I think I did." Rosalie Payton replied but then her attention was back at Lassiter. "Do you think Veronica was taken by this man the papers write about?" she asked and her gaze went back to Shawn, pleadingly. Could this psychic find her daughter before anything bad happened to her, this gaze asked.

"We don´t know that." Juliet tried to ease the upset mother.

"But it´s possible." Lassiter chipped in. "So far the case seems to fit the pattern."

"Oh, god." Rosalie Payton cried.

Juliet threw her partner a reproving glance and so did Shawn and Gus.

"Missus Payton, could you please tell us when you´ve seen your daughter last?" Juliet asked.

"That was two days ago. And I talked to her on the phone yesterday morning. She wanted me to come and pick her up at lunchtime because she had an important appointment out of town. She has no car so I agreed to drive her there. But when I came here, she wasn´t there. I tried to call her on her cell phone but I got no connection. Only this message that her number was out of order. What does that mean? Is my daughter all right?"

"We´ll find out what happened to her, Missus Payton." Juliet assured her.

"Was the door to her apartment broken or anything out of the ordinary?" Lassiter asked.

"No." Rosalie Payton answered. "I mean she never cleans up her place but that´s normal. When you go in there don´t think that someone else did this. That´s normal how it looks. I checked. It´s just like always."

"You checked." Lassiter repeated. "Did you touch anything?"

"Oh, god, no. I´d never do that. I mean I wanted but … then I thought if the police wants to look at the place, I might destroy clues if I did. I always watch Forensic Files so I know that one is not supposed to touch anything."

"All right." Shawn said to get to the point again. "I need to see the apartment. Every room. Maybe there are things out of the ordinary you or any other normal human being can´t see."

"You think so?" Rosalie Payton asked hopefully and Lassiter rolled his eyes.

But Missus Payton led them to her daughter´s apartment quite eagerly, to let the psychic have a look, so he didn´t say anything. There was work to do after all. So he decided that he would wait until Shawn had knocked himself out in there and just followed behind, saving his energy for later on, when he as the grown up, could take over. The door fell back into the lock behind him.

None of the five people had noticed the figure at the corner on the other side of the street. He was in a shadow, quiet and almost unsuspicious, the way he´d lived his life for so many years, so long that it had become second nature to him. Even now that he´d taken a decision that he wanted to stop living in the dark. But he felt strongly attached to the shadow again lately. Maybe more than he should. But it definitely helped to watch a guy that was as fidgety as Shawn. At least it had helped so far. Following them inside was not an option though, what meant his observance was over for now.

Sylar sighed and turned around. It was time to go back anyway. His shift would start in half an hour and he couldn´t afford to be late. If he´d be late only one time, it would raise suspicions that he _really_ couldn´t afford.

**...**

Juliet sat on her computer and typed the last words of her report about the missing Veronica Payton, their latest missing person. It was frustrating. Every time they got a new call that a new person was missing, the result of their investigation was the same. They talked to the relatives and friends and neighbors and in the end, they didn´t find any leads at all.

This time she´d been close to believe that it would be different. When Shawn had sensed that Veronica had left her apartment the other night to get herself some Chinese food, Juliet had started to hope. But talking to the man that owned the restaurant she always went to, hadn´t brought them any new information. The man had told them that he indeed knew the young woman. That she came to his restaurant every second week or so, but that he hadn´t seen her since last week. So the could-have-been-lead had been a dead end once again.

It was as if these people just vanished into thin air.

The tone of Lassiter´s phone ringing, caught her attention and drew it away from her gloomy thoughts. She looked over at his desk but he was nowhere to be seen. Maybe he was in the file room, or in the restroom or whatever. Still the phone was ringing. And it didn´t stop ringing. Maybe it was something important about the case. Juliet hesitated one more second before she got up and hurried over to his desk.

"Desk of detective Lassiter." she answered out of breath.

"Detective O´Hara, is that you?" a thin and totally unexpected voice asked her.

"Mary?" she almost couldn´t believe it. "Hi. Ehm. Why are you calling?"

"I just wanted to let detective Lassiter know that I sent him an additional file to the files he already got from me. It should be in his e-mail account now. I hope it didn´t went right through to the spam. Did he get it?"

"Ehm, I´m not sure." Juliet glanced around. Carlton was still not back. "Wait a second, I´ll check it for you."

She leaned over her partner´s desk and opened the e-mail account. It showed several new e-mails, some of them junk, some of them from detectives in other departments. After searching for a moment, she spotted the one that read Mary Lightly.

"It´s here." she told the FBI profiler. "The one marked: cold cases?"

"That´s it." Mary affirmed. "I´m glad it went through. Thanks detective. I hope I could help you with your case."

"Ehm … sure." was all she knew to say.

Had Carlton mentioned to her that he´d asked the FBI for help in their case? She´d been distracted quite often lately. She might have overheard it. Had she? If so, it was about time that she came back around. That was no way for a detective to handle a case.

"Thanks, Mary." she now told the profiler. "I tell Carlton you called."

They said their goodbye and Juliet hung up. She took the mouse of Lassiter´s computer and was about to close the e-mail account again. Not that she felt guilty that she´d opened it, but it was his computer not hers. But this mail with Mary´s name on it, kept drawing her attention. If it really was something about the case, she should know about it too. But wait. Hadn´t Mary said it was just something additional to what Carlton had already gotten from him? If he had those information all along, why hadn´t he told her? This time she was sure he hadn´t mentioned it. She might be able to overhear a comment but not something as vital as this.

The e-mail became more and more demanding the longer she looked at it and in the end she just couldn´t stand it any longer not to know. She sat down and opened the mail. Just a quick glance. The mail went open and shortly after that, the added file. A report came up. It read, unsolved cases of murder and missing people. The cases were all over the country though. Carlton couldn´t really believe that their latest case was that widespread, could he?

Juliet scrawled down until she found the page about the man, Mary obviously suspected to be the culprit in all those cases. She knew it shouldn´t surprise her to see this face. It had been Mary who sent the file after all. But seeing his picture in correlation to their latest case, made her arms break out in goosebumps.

**...**

It was four thirty p.m when Mohinder drove his cab into the parking lot of the motel. Sylar could tell that he was graving to get to his room, to rest after the long day. It wasn´t hard to see, he only needed one look in the Indian man´s face. Not that he didn´t look grimly all the time, but that was another form of grim looking. The exhaustion was subtly visible in his eyes right now.

He threw a short glance to his boss, Mrs. Roberta Hagenfos, who was standing right next to him. She was waiting here with him for ten minutes now but she already looked impatient. Sylar only hoped she wouldn´t say anything that would piss Mohinder off. His mood was already bad enough. The scientist was now approaching them.

"Welcome back, Dr. Suresh." Sylar greeted him good-tempered. "You look tired."

"I am." was the brusque answer.

Sylar exchanged a glance with Roberta and she made a slightly exaggerated face of pity. But then she faced Mohinder again, waiting for the usual question, the only reason why she was waiting here with Sylar in the first place.

When they´d agreed to him working in her diner, Mohinder had demanded that she´d give him a daily report on Sylar´s behavior and especially on his constant presence. He´d told her that Sylar was an ex-junky who was highly endangered of falling back into using again.

"He´s the sort of guy that will be tempted very easily and he´ll find some stuff no matter how unlikely it might sound for you. If he only leaves for ten minutes around a corner without a reason, you have to tell me."

She´d looked at him as if he were crazy. Sometimes she still did.

"This is the strangest kind of probation, I´ve ever heard of." she´d said.

But she had agreed to inform Mohinder, the probational officer of this ex-junky who didn´t look like an ex-junky at all, about any kind of missing time Sylar should have during his shifts. So far there hadn´t been any.

Sylar knew that this was not quite enough to convince the Indian geneticist about anything. He still looked at him with this wary gaze of his. But since there was nothing he could hold against him, he seemed to accept it. So far.

It was funny though. The comparison to a drug addict that was endangered of falling back … it was so fitting it was almost creepy. It reminded him of Parkman who´d actually visited a support group of AA´s to learn not to use his powers of mind reading anymore. Back then Sylar had laughed about that. Now he could even understand. It was hard to restrain yourself when you had all these powers. But using his powers was not his problem. His drug was much darker than Parkman´s had been. And Mohinder was right when he said, that he´d find the stuff he needed to satisfy his longing very easily if he wanted.

"Any problems?" Mohinder now asked Roberta.

"Nope." she replied. "He was a model dish washer and potato peeler."

"Good." was the short answer.

"Am I allowed to depart?" Roberta asked and made Sylar chuckle once again.

He liked the grumpy woman. She had a good heart and a sharp tongue. And she liked him, something he didn´t take for granted these days. At his first day at work she´d asked him, if he was really as dangerous as Mohinder had claimed. At this question Sylar had almost laughed out loud. How ironic. He had smiled widely at her and chuckled.

"I´m afraid I am, Ma´am." he´d said.

"Yeah?" she´d replied, watching him closely. "What have you done? You were in prison, I figure?"

"Yes, Ma´am. I´m not ashamed to admit that."

She´d raised her brows at this. "Look, look." she´d said. "Most jailbirds would rather bite off their tongues than to admit to their bosses that they were inside."

"Not me." Sylar had replied. "I was in for a reason. That is the part I should be ashamed of, I guess."

"And you´re not?" she´d asked confronting him.

Sylar had thought about this question seriously. But before he´d had a chance to say something, she´d asked him: "What did you do?"

"I hurt people." he´d said. "Many people. Too many."

"Do I have to be afraid that you´ll hurt me?" she´d asked. "Or my customers?"

Sylar had thought this over for a moment, only a few seconds but she´d noticed that he had to think about it. "No." he´d finally said and she´d nodded.

Sylar knew that Roberta was not afraid of him. She was a muscular woman and he must look rather skinny to her. She probably figured that she´d be able to handle him, if he should ever try to attack her – And why shouldn´t she? She didn´t know what he could do with his mind only. – so she had allowed him to work in her kitchen.

Her watchful gazes had ceased after a while. Sylar had told her the truth when he´d said, she had no reason to be afraid of him and by now she knew that. Mohinder on the other hand was still not convinced about this. Sometimes Sylar thought, he´d never be convinced about this.

Now the scientist´s face finally relaxed a little. "I´m sorry." he apologized to Roberta. "I didn´t mean to be so narky. I … I just had a long day."

"Well, all right then." Roberta said. "I´ll forgive you one last time. See you tomorrow." she told Sylar and then went back inside.

Sylar watched her go and then turned to Mohinder. His face was as hard as before, now that they were alone. Sylar offered him a box of Chinese food he´d bought earlier.

"Hungry?" he asked. "Chicken sweet´n´sour. You said you liked that."

Mohinder made a weary face but took it. "Thanks." he said reluctantly.

Sylar gave him a face in response as if to ask him: See? It´s not that hard. But of course Mohinder didn´t agree with him but turned around and made his way up to his room. Sylar followed in silence like a well trained proband and when Mohinder entered his room, he entered his own as if he´d go back to his cell. A well furnished cell but a cell.

He knew that Mohinder could hear it when he opened his door, because he could hear it when others opened theirs. He knew that as soon as he tried to leave his room, the good doctor would be there to ask him where the hell he wanted to go. So he remained in his room most of the time, reading a book or watching TV. Or just thinking. There was not so much around to go out to anyway.

The place was neat and isolated. Not too much though. There were some shops and restaurants nearby and the diner downstairs of course. But still. It was practically located at the back of beyond. The little motel wasn´t his best idea of a cosy stay but one had to be modest when he was on the run. And on the run he was, no kidding about that.

When was he ever not on the run? It was a part of his lifestyle. Theirs, he corrected himself. It was still hard for him to think in another term than singular. But he was sure that he wasn´t the only one who had his problems with that.

But at least in this regard he had to admit that Mohinder had been right. It had been a good idea to let him work here, instead of somewhere in the city, like Sylar had suggested. Out here it was quiet and the people who came into this diner were mainly commuters, people who had to go away on their jobs and truckers. Hardly a chance of a Special to ever come in here. No temptation for Sylar´s hunger.

That at least had been the idea. Sylar knew that. But he also knew something else. Something that Mohinder didn´t take into account, because he couldn´t know. It was the simple fact that the hunger wasn´t defeated with tricks like that. Not that easily.

**...**

Somewhere in the city, Noah Bennet´s cell phone rang.

"Yeah?"

"Noah, it´s me." Lauren´s voice answered him.

"Did you find anything?" he asked without any transition.

"Not very much, I´m afraid." she said. "But I did some digging and there are some cases of missing people. Eleven over the last two months. Some of their places were found destroyed and in no case anyone ever raised a pledge. None of them was solved so far. The people never showed up again. But they are all over the United States, Noah."

"So there is no real evidence for a connection." he understood.

There was a long pause between them, before Lauren spoke up again. "You still think that there is something behind it, don´t you?" she assumed.

Noah sighed and looked at the newspaper article again. `Three missing people in two weeks – police still in the dark´

"I want to believe that there isn´t." he said. "But I can´t help myself. Something tells me that we´re on something here."

"So what do we do? You want me to come back?"

"No, not yet." he replied uncertain. "Stay in Washington for now. You have more overlook from there. Keep your eyes open and if anything else happens … let me know."

He could hear Lauren sigh on the other end as well. "Noah, you know I trust your instincts." she said. "I just don´t see where this could lead us to. I mean … What could we possibly find? Some Special that randomly abducts people?"

"If they are random." Noah replied. "Did you check their profiles? Maybe they fit some sort of a pattern."

"You are kidding, right?"

"Why, doesn´t the CIA have access to such programs? You could look into it, couldn´t you?"

"That´s not what I mean." Lauren said. "You sound as if you were chasing a ghost. I know it looks suspicious regarded from the right angle. But that´s the point. Paranoia makes people look for this right angle until they find it."

Noah was silent for a while. "You think I´m paranoid?" he asked at last.

"That´s not what I said." Lauren replied. "I only say you should be careful not to become it. You know how easy it is. We both do."

Noah nodded, even though he knew she couldn´t see it. "You think I should let it go, don´t you?" he then said. "Before I get obsessed."

She didn´t answer him immediately.

"I´ll have a look into those files." she told him at last. Her tone said clearly `but that´s the end of it´.

Noah nodded again. "Thanks."

**...**

Mohinder sat on the edge of his motel room bed. The food Sylar had given him earlier stood on the table, untouched. He wasn´t hungry. He was tired. And not just because of the long hours behind his wheel. It was a form of tiredness he couldn´t cure with sleep, especially since he knew that he wouldn´t find any sleep anyway.

He heard a sound and flinched, only to realize that it had been once again only the working wood. How often these last few weeks had he been jumping when a sound like that had made him think, Sylar was leaving his room? He´d lost count. By now he would have thought that he´d learned it. But he was still too jumpy, still too much on his guard. But on the other hand, could he ever be enough on his guard? He was watching over a serial killer after all. A serial killer on probation. God, what a joke. But that was exactly what this was. What had he been thinking to ever agree to this insanity? Sylar would never change. It was not in his nature. He´d said that himself more than just once.

Mohinder recalled a talk he´d had with the killer not so long ago, where he´d basically said both. It had been on one of the many occasions when Sylar had talked him dizzy after a long day of driving his taxi. One of the many talks in which the killer had tried to convince him about his good intentions, knowing that Mohinder didn´t believe him no matter what he said. But that had never stopped him from trying.

On a certain point, Mohinder had started to rethink the whole probational idea and to actually consider to finally put an end to it.

"I just can´t trust you." he´d stated when he hadn´t been able to stand it anymore. "And I can´t work with someone that I don´t trust."

"Yes, you can." Sylar had immediately assured him. "I mean, I know I´ll have to earn your trust but believe me, I´ll try."

"Stop that." Mohinder had demanded, carefully aware of what was happening.

"Stop what?" Sylar had asked.

"You´re acting like Zane." Mohinder had hissed accusingly at him.

"What? No, I don´t. What makes you think …?" Sylar had seemed totally thrown off balance by that. Back in the days when he´d pretended to be another man to make Mohinder lead him to possible victims, this accusation would have been absolutely right. In this moment though and regarding the way Sylar had reacted to it, Mohinder wasn´t so sure anymore.

"Why should I do that?" the killer had asked him.

"I don´t know why you should do that." Mohinder had cried, raising both hands, defensively. "You are the twisted mind in here."

"One of two." Sylar had tried to joke but obviously understood the warning in Mohinder´s glare. "All right, listen." he´d started over. "I know, you don´t have a reason to trust me about anything but this one thing you should believe me. That I´m not trying to pretend to be anyone else but me. Why should I do that? You know who I am. And what I did."

"Oh, yes, I know."

"See? Then why …" he´d shook his head. "Look, it´s also weird for me, not just for you. But we had an agreement so … let´s just make the best of it, okay?"

Mohinder sighed. It had been only a few weeks but it had been a constant fight. Even if they hadn´t argued about anything, there´d always been this tension that was rumoring inside of his mind. This had finally come home to him. He´d been exhausted. Maybe not physically but mentally.

"I just don´t know if I can." he´d said frankly.

"You have to." had been Sylar´s almost desperate response. "I can´t do this on my own. You said you know that feeling when the monster inside breaks loose. Then you must know that I can´t fight it alone. I need help. No pun intended." he´d added with a tiny smile and actually caused Mohinder to silently chuckle for a moment. "I know that I can make it when I have help." the killer had went on. "That night in Central Park, when Peter brought me there to save this woman … I made it. Instead of killing someone, I saved lives. Yes, I was a killer but I don´t want to be one anymore."

Mohinder had studied Sylar´s face. "I´m always amazed about how much it sounds as if you really mean that." he´d said.

"I do mean it." Sylar had assured him. "I had changed. Back then, I´d made it. But then things went upside down again and I … I changed back into what I´d tried to defeat."

And in this moment Mohinder had suddenly understood. "Because you were alone." he´d said and this insight he suddenly had in the killer´s mind, had scared him deeply.

"Yeah." Sylar´d nodded, relieved that he truly was understood for a change. "It wasn´t Peter´s fault." he told him. "It was no one´s fault but it happened. And it would happen again. Not because I want it, but because I couldn´t stop it. Not alone at least."

Mohinder sighed and lowered his gaze. That was exactly what Peter had tried to tell him that day before they´d invaded the Company in Durham Street. That Sylar could change if he had something to hold onto.

"Do you understand, the hunger it´s like a drug." Sylar had went on. "Even if you get clean of it, the need for it is always there. Inside. Waiting to get the better of you again. And if there´s nothing to give you some hold, it´s so easy to fall back. The temptation, the … the …"

"The rage." Mohinder had ended the sentence for him and Sylar had nodded. He hadn´t been able to help the smile that started to spread over his face as a response to Sylar´s. "It´s not that I can´t understand _that_ part." he´d said, referring to his own experience with that special drug.

And it was true. He really did understand that particular problem Sylar was suffering from. To claim that he was so above it, would be pure megalomania. He might not be as tempted as Sylar but if he was honest, this was just pure luck. His luck that he hadn´t been born with this graving that came with Sylar´s ability of understanding. The hunger.

All the sudden he frowned, remembering that part of the talk. He´d unwillingly reminded himself of something. Something he´d found during his researching on Sylar in the three months of his imprisonment at the Company.

Was that possible? How was it possible that he´d forgotten about that until now? Back then he hadn´t payed attention to it because he´d been focused on other things, more urgent than something like a scientific discovery. Even if it was something as groundbreaking as this. But now … this could actually be the answer. Not just to his problem but to Sylar´s and with that the whole worlds. If it was possible. And if he could get Sylar to agree.

After a short hesitation, Mohinder made himself stand up and leave his room. He needed to talk to the killer and he needed to do it now.


	4. What I've Done

**What I´ve done**

"I thought you were just pretending, to stall time." Sylar recalled what Mohinder had told him himself about their time at the Company.

"I did but …" Mohinder shrugged a little embarrassed. "You know for a scientist it´s kinda hard to do something without really doing something. If you understand."

The killer smiled. "I think, I do."

"Anyway, there was something that I found." Mohinder went on. "Something that I hadn´t expected. Back then I didn´t pay attention to it. I had to focus on how to get to the computer virus. But now …"

"What was it?" Sylar asked, eager to hear it.

"Something I localized in your brain substance." Mohinder told him. "A single gen that seemed to carry the information about your ability. The original one."

"You found its origin?" Sylar suddenly felt infected by the scientist´s excitement.

"That´s at least what it looked like." Mohinder affirmed. "I just realized that I might have found the answer to your problem with that."

Sylar shook his head. "How´s that?"

"See, in genetics it´s all about working gens." the geneticist started to talk as if he was giving a lecture, probably without even noticing it. "Each gen is responsible for a certain function." he explained. "If you switch it off, the function would cease to work. This might be the answer. Maybe I was looking in the wrong place all along. Maybe it´s not a formular I have to look for. Maybe it´s just the source. I can´t believe that I was so blind all this time."

"Wow, wait a second." Sylar cried. "What does that mean?"

"Maybe if I could find the origin of your abilities, I could disable them." Mohinder explained. "Switch it off."

Sylar blinked uncertain. This time he couldn´t quite share the excitement of the other man. "You mean making me normal again?" he asked.

"If that´s what it would take, wouldn´t you do it?" Mohinder asked.

The killer hesitated. That was an option he´d never expected. Not anymore at least. To hear this offer now, in a way as if it was truly possible, was almost disturbing. Without noticing it, he started to walk away from Mohinder.

"You said you want my help to fight it." Mohinder recalled, noticing that disguised back off. "Now I´m offering you a possibility."

"You don´t know if it would work." Sylar pointed out, not realizing that he tried to negotiate.

"But if it would …" Mohinder insisted, following him until Sylar didn´t have a chance to avoid his gaze anymore. "Would you be ready to do this?" he demanded to know. "Would you give up your powers, if it would take away that hunger that makes you a killer?"

"The hunger … immediately." Sylar said. "But … everything else …"

"It would be a sacrifice, yes." Mohinder talked over him. "But you´d be free of the hunger and that´s what you want if you told me the truth."

"I told you the truth." Sylar stated, matter of factly. "But would _you_ give up _your_ power again?"

For a moment, he seemed to have startled the scientist with that question. But only for a moment. "If it would serve a greater good, yes." Mohinder claimed.

Sylar wanted to disagree with him, wanted to tell him that he knew that this was a lie. Mohinder had wanted abilities so badly that he´d injected himself with a half completed and untested formular. Someone who did something like this, wouldn´t just give up those powers again. No matter what he said, Sylar just couldn´t believe that.

But then he decided that it wasn´t about Mohinder´s powers. It was about his. So he kept this to himself.

"It´s not that I never thought of it." he told Mohinder. "I went to Parkman. I wanted him to take it from me. All of it. I thought it was my only chance to become human again." he shook his head. "But Parkman said something that kept stuck in my head. He said that we have to accept that we are more than our abilities. That we´re people first. And after all this time … I feel that these abilities are a part of me."

"You don´t want to lose them." Mohinder spoke it out.

"No." Sylar admitted. "And not just because of me. I could do so much good with them."

Mohinder rolled his eyes in disbelieve.

"I mean it." Sylar insisted. "All these people we´re looking for. Some of them can be dangerous, we both know that. I could help take care of them. Without killing them. You know that. I can do so much more with these powers than without them. Good things."

Mohinder looked at him, narrowing his eyes, as if he´d just realized something. "You want to be a hero." he found.

Sylar couldn´t help but chuckled. "Yes." he admitted with a shrug. "Is that so wrong?"

After a minute of studying his face, Mohinder lowered his gaze. "It´s not wrong." he told Sylar. "I wanted the same when I did this to myself. Only I became the exact opposite."

In his wish to comfort the scientist somehow, Sylar reached out a hand, laying it on Mohinder´s shoulder. "That wasn´t your fault." he told him.

The geneticist halted and looked at him, shocked. Not because of what he´d said but because of this sudden touch. Again Sylar felt this tension in the other man. This mixture of still existing hate and fear, he had towards him. But there was something else too. Something that kept him from just hitting his hand away and hissing at him to never try that again, reminding him that they were no friends and that he´d rather kill him than work with him. A few months ago that would have been what he would have done.

Now he looked as if he tried to figure out a way to at least be polite. And after another moment he found a way. He just walked away until there was a more comfortable space between them, his movement almost mechanically.

"Yes, it was." he said, picking up their former talk as if nothing had happened. "What I did was wrong." he stated while sitting down behind this poor excuse for a desk. A barrier that provided at least a little safety.

"But you made up for it." Sylar said, grateful that Mohinder hadn´t ended their talk. "Maybe I can do that too."

The scientist lowered his gaze, allowing himself to consider Sylar´s words.

"What if I could isolate the gen that carries only the hunger?" he asked after another minute. "I … I don´t say that I can find it, but if I could … if I could take away only one ability from you. The one that creates that hunger …"

"You think this is possible?" Sylar felt new hope inside of him. Hesitant but hope nonetheless and for a moment he was close to tell Mohinder about this feeling he had so often lately. That electricity he felt in the air at night, that called him out, just like in the days when he was still the hunter. That feeling that was so close to the hunger and that was feeding the hunger, making it stronger again, too strong to resist it by simply trying.

But he couldn´t tell him. If he´d tell him that now, Mohinder would immediately suspect that he´d done something. And he just couldn´t have that.

"I would try." Mohinder now answered his question. "But I would need your cooperation. Would you do that?"

"Sure." Sylar said and he meant it. If Mohinder really could take away that hunger from him, maybe he could finally stop. Maybe then he wouldn´t have to … "Yeah, please try." he said. "Whatever it takes."

Now it was Mohinder who hesitated. "That´s the problem." he said. "I´d need some things from you. Samples. Especially spinal fluid if possible."

Slowly Sylar understood where he was going with that. "Oh." he made and then chuckled. "Talk about dejavu, huh?"

Mohinder looked at him uncomfortable, remembering the hours and hours of torture he´d made Sylar go through back at the Company. The guilt was again visible in his gaze. "I´d try to be gentle." he promised.

Sylar smirked. "You would?"

**...**

Juliet sat behind her desk, pretending to still work on her report. She threw a glance over to her partner. He was working on his computer too but she knew that he was deeply into something else. Something that might be case related in his mind, but not as far as she was concerned. In her opinion it could only lead to a disaster if she allowed him to keep up this course for so much longer. She´d kept her mouth shut until now but maybe it was time to stand up and say something.

Juliet took her decision. When she reached Lassiter he was just busy reading a report of another case. She didn´t need to see what it was exactly and that was a good thing, because in the moment he noticed her, he clicked the report away.

"Yes?" he asked, turning to her.

Juliet threw one last glance at the now empty screen and then faced her partner.

"You think it´s Sylar, don´t you?" she said directly. "You think he did all these kidnappings."

Lassiter´s smiling face changed into confusion. "I didn´t say that." he stated. "Why do you think that?"

"Then why did you ask Mary for all the files of Sylar´s victims?" Juliet demanded an explanation.

"You were at my computer?" Lassiter cried scandalized.

"He called here, while you were gone. He said he sent an additional file for you to all the stuff you already had."

Lassiter immediately started to look into his e-mail account to find it. Slowly Juliet got impatient.

"Carlton, you need to stop this." she told him.

"What? Why?" He was barely listening to her.

"Because you are obsessed." She brought her hand down on the table and made him look at her.

"Because I investigate a case?" he cried.

"This is not our case." she informed him.

"It was." he insisted. "You of all people should remember that."

"But it´s over."

"You heard what he said before he left. I only want to be prepared in case he really comes back."

She shook her head and searched for the right words. "He … was just making fun of you." she said. "When he said, he wanted to change, he meant it."

Lassiter stared at her in utter disbelieve. "O´Hara, don´t be so naiv. He´s a murderer. People like that don´t just change."

"I don´t think that he´ll change just like that either." she explained herself. "But I can tell when people are honest … and when he said he wanted to change, he _was_ honest."

"I can´t believe that you´re actually defending him." Lassiter cried.

"I´m not defending him." Juliet emphasized. "I´m trying to help _you_ think straight again. Why should Sylar kidnap all these people? That´s not his MO."

"O´Hara, you don´t listen to what I say." Lassiter said calmly. "I didn´t say I think this is him." He halted for a moment as if he considered the very question in his mind one last time. Juliet watched him closely, expecting him to change his mind once again, but then he shook his head.

"I´m only taking some precautions with this here." he explained.

"Precautions for what?"

"For his return of course. Do you want to risk it, that he stands in your living room one day? I think in that case you´d be grateful to have some information about how to fight him, before he can take out your brain."

Juliet considered for a moment if she should make a comment about this, if she should tell him that she really didn´t believe Sylar would try to do that. But then she decided that Lassiter might get this wrong again and kept her mouth shut.

"Just … don´t forget that we have a real case to work on." she said instead.

"Don´t worry." he replied. "This doesn´t effect my work. Did you finish the report?"

Juliet had to restrain a smile. No, it doesn´t effect your work, Carlton. Not at as long as someone else is doing it for you. "Yes, it´s done." she told him.

"Great." he commented and got up. Before he walked away he turned back to her one last time. "Believe me." he said in a confidential tone. "One day this bastard´s coming back. And then I´ll be ready for him."

With that he walked away. Juliet closed her eyes for a moment. It was no use to talk sense into him when he´d set his mind to something like that. She just hoped that he wouldn´t get too obsessed with the idea.

**...**

"… _now there has been the fourth missing person in two weeks which the police suspects, was taken by the same person or persons, who are already responsible for the last three victims." _the reporter spoke into the camera._ "So far the police seems to have no evidence whatsoever that could cause a new lead in this case of mysterious disappearances. Head Detective Lassiter from the S.B.P.D. was not available for a comment." _

A short switch of the picture showed said detective on his way to the police station, surrounded by reporters, cameras and microphones, while he grimly repeated over and over again: "No comment, dammit!"

"_So far it seems that the police is, like at the beginning of this case, still in the dark."_ the reporter finished her statement.

"That´s unbelievable." Doris said and switched off the TV. "There are people vanishing and the police is doing nothing at all."

"Ah, come on, Doris." her brother Frank said next to her. "I´m sure they would if they could. The way I understood it, these criminals are very tricky. Scary, don´t you think? That someone can do all this right before the eyes of the police and no one finds anything."

"In my eyes they just don´t have a clue from anything." Doris shot back, still as grim as before. "Only sitting on their fat asses, drinking coffee and munching donuts."

"You still sound like in the old days." Frank smirked. "Like our mother. You live in America now if you´ve forgotten that."

"Aaahhh." Doris waved her hand at the TV. "They are the same everywhere. All criminals."

Frank laughed. "You will never change, will you?" he said. But after a while his laughter was gone again. "Did you lock your windows closely?" he asked.

"What? Are you afraid someone might steal you while you´re here?"

"No. You." he said earnest. When she looked at him, he cringed a little. "But no." he admitted. "No one would be brave enough to even dare that."

Doris took a pillow and raised it in order to hit him and he already ducked away, even though the pillow never came.

"Absolutely right." Doris agreed with his last statement. "And you my friend, be better careful or I think twice if you´ll get anything to eat in my house this evening."

"As your brother I can afford it to be honest with you." Frank replied fearless. "A criminal that would want to take you, would play with his life."

"Right." Doris said proudly. "I´d punch ´em until they hear the bells ringin."

"I bet you would. But then the police would have to charge you because of overstepping your right of self defense."

"I couldn´t care less." she said. "I´d go to the police myself after I beat him up. I´d say: I´m sorry, officers. There´s a man who tried to kidnap me, I think he doesn´t live anymore. Maybe you should have a look."

Frank threw his head in the neck and laughed, clapping his hands in applause.

"You can laugh but that´s exactly what I would do." his sister told him.

"I know." Frank laughed. "I know, you would. I from all people should know. Kids at school used to threat to get their big brothers. I used to threat to get you." he halted and pretended to think this over. "Maybe that was the reason why they wanted to beat me up in the first place." he mused.

"They were all assholes anyway." Doris recalled.

"Yes, so you told them." Frank recalled on his own.

"Anyway, if I´d have anything to say in this so called police investigation, I´d tell them how to treat these criminals." Doris came back to the point.

"Doris. How can they treat anyone when they don´t find them?"

"Oh, I´d find them. Somehow I would." she stated and then all the sudden, her gaze became a little glassy. "Sam would agree with me." she said matter of factly.

Franks laughter disappeared. Now he looked at his big sister with sympathy. Sam had been Doris´ husband. In their family they´d used to call him uncle Sam because he´d taken Doris to America when they had married. Frank had always thought he´d looked a little more like uncle Remus but that nickname had never beaten the first one.

Sam had been a good man. He´d never raised his voice when he was in an argument with someone, had always been polite to everybody and what was even more important, he´d really loved Doris and he´d taken good care of her. And of course she´d taken good care of him in response. Sam´s only mistake had been that he´d been a smoker. No reason to be against a marriage, their mother had said back then.

Well, last year Sam had finally become the victim of his only mistake. He had died on cancer, only a few days before Christmas. Doris had mourned but she´d done it in her own way, by pestering the authorities and insurances and especially the funeral parlor to take extra care of her Sam´s last place. It had surprised Frank that she hadn´t sued the tabac industry as well. But when he´d asked her, she´d told him that she´d never do that. As much as she´d loved Sam, but that had been his own fault, she´d said. And furthermore he´d asked her not to do such a ridiculous thing, trying to make someone else responsible for what had been his own choice for so many years.

She´d always respected his wishes and so she would respect this one as well, she´d said. Frank knew if it hadn´t been for this request of good old Sam, she would have done it anyway, no matter how low the chances. When it came about letting out her anger and frustration, his sister was very good in ignoring facts.

Oh, yes she would have sued them, you bet she would have. Thanks god Sam had prevented it. The income of a florist like Doris would surely not stand the costs of a lawsuit like that.

"I miss him too." Frank now said with a glance at Sam´s picture, standing on top of the TV. Good old uncle Sam (Remus) with the whitest smile Frank had ever seen in a dark face like this. And he had seen a lot of faces over the years, varying in all shades and forms.

Doris nodded. She wiped the tear away that had sneaked into the corner of her eye and a second later, her grim facade was back on.

"Anyway." she said. "You finally picked the best time to come here. Now you see first hand that it is true what I always told you about the criminality here in America. And the police. You never wanted to believe me."

"It´s not that I didn´t believe you, Doris." Frank said. "But I know how much my big sis likes to exaggerate sometimes."

This time the pillow came flying and Frank skipped back, laughing. "Ok, ok." he cried. "I´m sorry. Ist ja gut. Ist ja gut. I take it back."

"You saw the news too." she recalled pointing at the TV. "Now tell me if I exaggerate. This whole thing started two weeks ago. You came right in time to not to miss anything. Finally after all these years my little brother has a good timing with something."

"What?" Frank asked and sat straight again. "What did you just say?"

"I said that this is the first time that you came in time to not to miss anything." she repeated. "The whole thing started … well, only a few days after you came here. Yeah, it was Wednesday when I heard the first news. You came here on Monday. I always knew you brought the trouble with you, Franky boy."

Frank smiled dutifully about the joke but this time something kept the heartily laughter away. Something about what she´d said, troubled him. He didn´t know why, but it troubled him deeply.

**...**

Mohinder took the syringe, he´d just pulled back out of Sylar´s neck. He stayed behind him for one more minute to watch the wound close itself. It didn´t matter how often he´d already seen things like that, it never lost its fascination. When it was done, he took the syringe and went back to his desk.

Sylar groaned, leaning on his knees. His head was hanging as if he had a bad headache. Mohinder frowned. He had kept his promise and tried to be gentle. But when extracting spinal fluid there was just no way around pain in any case. Sylar had tried not to scream. At least not too loud. But now the extraction was done and the wound was closed.

"What is it?" the geneticist asked, startled.

Sylar squinted before he answered: "My spine hurts. Like hell." He chuckled and shook his head and immediately decided that it was better not to.

"Shouldn´t you be healed by now?" Mohinder asked, worried that he might have caused some severe damage without noticing it – and wondering why he was worried about the killer´s well being in the first place.

"Just because I can heal doesn´t mean that I can´t feel pain, doctor." Sylar told him, his eyes still closed.

"No, of course not." Mohinder replied, a little embarrassed. "I … I didn´t mean … Was it like that all the time … you know … at the Company?"

Now Sylar opened his eyes, to look at him. He smiled. A painful smile that could have been a snarl. "Yes." he said. "It was."

Mohinder swallowed. "You never showed it."

Sylar´s smile faded a little but didn´t vanish. He lowered his head and closed his eyes again. "No, I didn´t." was all he said.

Again Mohinder felt this stitch of guilt and shame in his chest. He´d always known how much pain he´d caused Sylar while torturing him with his experiments back in New York. But he´d effectively ignored that knowledge, probably to avoid the look into his own mirror. Now that he knew that Sylar had even supported his ignorance, by pretending to have less pain, it felt even worse.

"I …" he started but Sylar talked right over him.

"Hey." he looked up, almost amused. "No hard feelings."

"That´s easy to say." Mohinder said.

"For me you mean?"

"NO. No, I mean … I´m … I´m sorry." Mohinder couldn´t believe that he´d really said this. But he had. "I didn´t know." he tried to explain himself.

"Oh, you knew." Sylar said matter of factly and of course he was right. Ignoring knowledge didn´t mean that it wasn´t there. It wasn´t the first time that Mohinder wondered how much sadism really was in him, when he´d been able to do all this for so long.

"But as I said." Sylar went on. "No hard feelings." With that he lowered his head again, like a monk trying to meditate.

"You want something?" Mohinder asked uncomfortable. "A painkiller or … "

"No." Sylar declined. "That´d only make it worse. Don´t worry. Just let me sit here for a minute or two. You … go ahead and do whatever it is you´ve got to do with that stuff."

Mohinder looked down on the syringe in his hand. So often, he thought. So many times he´d caused pain just by extracting something like this. What kind of a person did something like that without feeling at least a hint of sympathy? He´d never wanted to be that person. And yet he´d become it. For a moment he wondered if Sylar´s transition from Gabriel Gray into this monster had happened in a similar sneaking way.

When he looked at the recently suffering man sitting on the edge of the motel-room bed, he could almost understand.

Then he turned around and went to work.

**...**

Shawn sat at the kitchen table while his father was busy with the dishes. They´d just finished eating and now Shawn was eager to get up. Still he didn´t dare to run out at once. His dad had been suspicious already when he´d just dropped in for dinner uninvited. He hadn´t sent him away and he hadn´t asked any questions, but Shawn knew that he had wondered why he´d come in the first place.

His explanation that he just wanted to spend some time with his old man, didn´t quite convince him. At least he hadn´t asked any questions so far. But Shawn could see that he still waited for the bomb to drop. Only that this time he would wait forever, because Shawn didn´t plan to drop a bomb. That was not the reason why he was here. Not this time at least.

So he just stayed where he was for another minute, pretending to take his time to finish his soda. They talked a little, while Henry finished the dishes. Mostly all day chat. How´s it going? You have a lead in the latest murder case? The usual stuff. When Henry started drying the plates, Shawn finally got up.

"I´ll take a leak." he said and walked out before his dad could even reply anything. If he´d told him he would leave right away, Henry would have followed to say his goodbye but that way he just remained at the sink and didn´t mind Shawn walking out. And that was exactly what Shawn had speculated on. Instead of going to the bathroom he snuck into the living room … and to the fireplace.

He knew exactly where to look. Of course, he knew his father and his father was a man of habits, just like Lassiter. Only one quick look and he´d found what he was looking for. Even quicker he took it and hid it in the pocket of his jacket. A typical smash and grab job – figuratively speaking. His dad would need at least a week to realize that his gun was not in its place anymore and even longer to realize that he hadn´t just replaced it.


	5. Letting Go

**Letting Go**

"You understand, that prison Parkman had put us in, was exactly like those nightmares Roth created." Sylar explained.

He was still sitting on the same spot he´d been sitting on when Mohinder had taken that sample out of his spine. Almost two hours ago. The time had passed almost unnoticed. He´d started talking, Mohinder couldn´t even remember when or how. Anectodes that were probably meant to convince him, about the fact that this killer really truly had had a change of heart. Barely something new. The more surprising was it for Mohinder that he actually felt intrigued to listen for a change.

"We were the only people in this version of the world he made up and we were in there for years." Sylar now told him. "I mean it was only six hours in real life but for us it was years. And before Peter came to get me out of there, I was alone for three years. Can you imagine how it feels to be alone for so long?"

Mohinder looked at Sylar past his computer screen, but he didn´t think that he actually expected him to say anything. He didn´t seem to be quite done yet.

"I mean really alone." he just went on. "Believing that you are the only human being left on earth. That´s what he made me believe. Your friend Matt. I thought I was cursed to be alone for all eternity, unable to die. Do you have any idea how that feels?"

Now he seemed to expect some sort of a reply. "No." was all Mohinder could muster. "But I can imagine that it isn´t … nice."

Sylar only chuckled. "You´re right." he said. "It wasn´t."

Mohinder lowered his gaze. What Sylar had told him over these last few hours – unbelievable that he was listening to that for so long already – was almost unbelievable. Not the part about the dream and being imprisoned within his own mind. Mohinder knew that these things were possible for people with the ability of mind reading and mind control. A few weeks earlier he had experienced it first hand. But to hear what Matt Parkman had done was startling.

This man was his friend. He was a police detective, a good man. They´d shared the rent, they´d hidden Molly, the sweet kid with the precious ability whose parents had been killed by the man currently sitting before him. And now he heard those disturbing stories about his old friend.

He and Matt had taken care of Molly back then to protect her, from the Company, from Sylar, from the cruelty of the world. Now that he thought back of what had become of him, after he´d gained superhuman powers and what Matt had done according to Sylar (and Mohinder really didn´t think that Sylar had a reason to lie right now) he couldn´t help but wonder. They´d wanted to protect her from exactly what they´d become themselves. He had become a monster and Matt had technically tried to bury Sylar´s body in his own basement. What a great influence they would have been for a little girl like her. Maybe it really was better, that she hadn´t stayed with them.

In this moment Mohinder wondered. He wondered where Molly was today and hoped that she did better than they had done. That the next generation wouldn´t repeat the mistakes of the former.

"I´m sorry, I´m babbling." Sylar said now. "I didn´t want to distract you from your work."

"It´s … all right." Mohinder said, almost grateful to be dragged out of these thoughts. "It´s just … running test results." he informed Sylar with a gesture at the computer.

"What is that?" Sylar asked and got up to have a look at it. He groaned and had to support himself on the edge of the table.

"Are you okay?" Mohinder asked and Sylar gave him a reassuring nod. He threw a glance at the screen, barely understanding what he saw there.

"What´s it doing?" he asked.

"As I said. It´s running the test samples I took from you and now it´s looking for results. It´s searching the right gen if you prefer to call it that."

Sylar nodded slightly and then looked at Mohinder asking. "How long will that take?"

"Long." Mohinder answered frankly. "It can take quite a while."

For a moment he wasn´t sure what he saw in Sylar´s face. There was an expression that looked like impatience. As if he wanted to be somewhere else and was afraid to be late. But in his condition he wouldn´t be able to go anywhere, would he?

"Wouldn´t it be better then if we´d call it a night and go on tomorrow?" the killer suggested.

"It´s all right, I´m fine." Mohinder assured, uncertain what to think.

Sylar lay his head askew. "You always say that."

"You don´t need to stay here with me." Mohinder told him. "Go to your room and rest if you´re tired."

"And you?"

"I´ll finish in an hour or so."

"Or two? Three?"

"Why do you care?"

"I don´t." Sylar replied dryly. "But I planned to sneak out of the house tonight and I can´t have you see me."

For a moment Mohinder thought he´d heard wrong. But then he saw the mocking face Sylar gave him and returned an annoyed face of his own.

"Stop fooling around." he warned. "I might take that serious."

"I was serious." Sylar replied. "So why don´t you just switch that thing off and get some rest. You don´t need to stay awake all night because of this. I mean, I will be here tomorrow. Your computer will be here tomorrow. You practically have an infinite supply of samples of all kinds right here." he gestured to himself. "There´s no need to hurry."

Mohinder looked at him uncertain for a moment. It wasn´t that he didn´t know all this. And it surely wasn´t that he wasn´t tired. He could indeed use some sleep. It was only this old habit that kept him from just finishing for the day. This restlessness that used to keep him up all night when he was working on something.

"Maybe you´re right." he admitted. "I´ll call it a night. In a few minutes."

Sylar, who´d already believed to have won, sighed at this and shook his head. "This isn´t gonna work." he said.

Mohinder threw him an uncertain glance but the killer was already in the process of turning around, to the door. So his suspicions had probably been ungrounded. But then, just a second after he´d taken his eyes away from the killer, Sylar raised his arm, and all the sudden Mohinder had his hand in his face.

He flinched and tried to hit it away, but it was already too late. The last thing he heard before all lights went out, was Sylar who told him a not very convincing: "Sorry."

After the scientist was fast asleep Sylar carefully moved him over to the bed. He didn´t need to sleep on the desk. But sleeping he must. There was just no other way. Night had settled down and Sylar could already hear the call again. The call to go out and … hunt. He didn´t know why it was so strong lately but he knew that there was only one way to satisfy this hunger. And therefore he needed to go out. Now.

**...**

It was Thursday evening. Noah Bennet was still sitting in his car. When his cell phone rang, he didn´t need more than ten seconds to answer it. It was as if he´d begged it to ring just now and it had happened.

"Yeah." he almost cried into it and of course he already knew it was Lauren before she even said anything. He immediately asked her what she had, but she only told him that there was nothing. His heart that had started to pound in excitement, stopped for a second and then went on beating in regular speed.

"Oh." was all he knew to say.

"I´m sorry, Noah." Lauren told him. "I checked everything there was to check. But the victims have absolutely nothing in common. Nothing that would be significant enough to call it a pattern."

"I understand." he said. "Well, looks as if I was wrong. Thanks anyway."

"Noah."

"Yeah?"

"Let it go. Sometimes a shadow is really just a shadow."

"I know." he replied. "Don´t worry. I know when I backed the wrong horse. See you soon?"

"Sure."

"Bye then."

"I love you."

"Love you too."

With that he hung up. He sat in silent contemplation for a while, looking out at the street and the apartment house he´d parked at. He´d been so sure. It had felt exactly like back in the days when the Company had spotted suspicious activities that led them to a Special. Damn, it still felt like that.

Was he getting old? Did he finally become one of these old soldiers who went out of business but just couldn´t forget the war? Was it that? Was it?

Eventually he decided that it didn´t help when he sat here for much longer, and opened the door. He took the paperbox from the passenger seat and got out. That was a strange feeling as well. It had been a while since he´d carried this box to a new place. Too many memories flooded his mind lately. Far too many. But he´d promised it and that much he could do. Maybe he had no reason to be paranoid but others had at least the right to be.

Not that he wanted to support that. Quite the contrary. With these files he hoped to ease the mind of the man he was about to visit. Sometimes all it needed to do so, was some information. There was nothing people feared more than the unknown. So what better to ease their fears than to tell them the truth? A policy he had not always supported. He still didn´t most of the time. But in this case, he figured it was all right. Did he have another choice anyway?

He reached the door and knocked. Barely ten seconds later, Lassiter opened the door. He really must have been waiting for this.

"Finally." he exclaimed and already reached out his hands for the box. Bennet gave it to him willingly enough and followed him inside, where the detective sat down the box on the coffee table, eager to inspect its contents.

"Ehm, you want a coffee or something?" he asked, remembering the rules of politeness.

"No, thanks." Noah replied. "Probably not a good idea to take even more sleep from myself."

Lassiter laughed. "Yeah, same here." he said and went back to his business of exploring the box. But then he halted again and looked at Bennet uncertain. "You wanna give me a briefing?" he asked him. "Could spare some time."

Bennet needed a moment to understand what he meant but then he got it.

"Sure. Why not." He took a seat and wondered where he should start. "Well, let´s see, ehm. Ah yeah. All right first. Sylar´s most dangerous abilities beside the shapeshifting: he can shoot lightnings and ice out of the palms of his hands. He … can generate and manipulate radiation. The telekinesis of course."

"So he can shoot ice, fire and electricity?" Lassiter summarized and whistled. "He is one loaded little bastard, isn´t he?"

Bennet couldn´t help but chuckled. "Besides that he can fly." he continued and made Lassiter raise both eyebrows in disbelieve. He knew that face. It was the face of a man that started to feel like he was sitting with a lunatic that read too many comic books.

"And the healing abilities of course, he got from my daughter." he just went on to bury that question right from the start. That Sylar could heal was something Lassiter already knew. He´d seen it with his own eyes and so he wouldn´t question that.

"Your daughter." Lassiter repeated. "I thought he only gets the power of a Special by killing them. How did she survive?"

Bennet shrugged slightly. "She can´t die." he said. "That´s at least what he told her. And now that he has her gift …"

"Is there nothing that can stop him?" Lassiter asked almost desperate.

"One thing. It can´t kill him but it takes him down. A little spot in the back of his head. Punctured with something, it´s like an on and off switch. He´s dead until you remove it again."

Lassiter´s eyes had started to glow at this and Bennet hurried to tell him: "But there´s a problem. He moved it. I couldn´t tell you for the life of my daughter where it´s located."

"How did he move a part of his own head?" Lassiter asked in a tone that could as well ask: are you kidding or out of your mind?

"Shapeshifting." was all Bennet said and Lassiter understood.

"Dammit." he grumbled. He threw Bennet a glance, trying to read in this unreadable face. "You know where he is, don´t you?" he asked.

"I do." Bennet nodded.

Lassiter shoved his jaw to the right. "Would you tell me?" he asked.

Bennet only smiled. "What would you possible do with this information, detective?" he asked.

Lassiter shrugged. "Checking on him?" he offered a possibility.

"_I_ can do that."

"Making sure that he can´t come back to kill my partner." Lassiter now admitted frankly. "Or anyone else for that matter."

"Getting him first in other words." Bennet spoke it out.

"Wouldn´t you do the same? I saw it in your eyes that day when Petrelli made you take that deal. That … compromise. You´d rather killed him than let him go."

"That´s true." Bennet affirmed calmly. "But you forget one thing, detective. Sylar can´t be killed. Not after inheriting Claire´s healing powers."

Lassiter shrugged, unimpressed. "I think chopping his head off would work quite well."

For a moment Bennet was surprised. But then he remembered the look he´d seen in Lassiter´s eyes on that day when they´d been forced to let Sylar go and he smiled. "You would have been a good agent for the Company." he commented. "At least back in the days when I was working for them. You remind me of someone I knew back then."

The detective seemed delighted about that.

Bennet lowered his gaze. "But that is in the past." he said.

"Why did you quit?" Lassiter wanted to know.

"They threatened my family." Bennet said. "And I made a decision."

Lassiter nodded. "Sylar is threatening_ my_ family." he said.

"You sure about that?" Bennet held against it.

This time he seemed to have struck a nerve. The detective frowned uncertain and then laughed. "What do you mean? You were the one who said he was too dangerous to be let free."

"I know what I said." Bennet replied. "But … when you are in this business as long as I am … let´s just say you´ve got to be careful not to be scared by your own shadow one day. Take my advice, Carlton. Stop before you cross this line. It´s very dark on the other side."

For a moment Lassiter didn´t seem to understand a single word he´d said. Then he blinked his confusion away and asked: "What do you mean? That I should just sit here and wait until this son of a bitch comes back to kill us all?"

"No, of course not." Bennet replied. "I just say you should be careful not to make the same mistakes I made."

"What mistakes?"

"Does your partner know that you´re looking into Sylar´s cases?"

"She saw the files." Lassiter told him.

"Would you tell her what you did to protect her?" Bennet probed. "That is if it would come that far."

This time Lassiter didn´t answer him. When the detective lowered his gaze instead, Noah knew that he hadn´t even thought that far.

"I´ve been in this place too." he told him. "I did things that I´m not proud of, always believing that I did the right thing. For my family. For the world. The greater good. But in the end it just drove all that away from me. I lost my wife and almost my daughter. What you are ready to do to protect your loved ones, will only lead you into a web of lies and half truths. And after a while you´ll lose everything that you try to protect. Believe me, I know."

Lassiter only looked at him in silence for a while. Noah could tell that his words had hit the right spot.

"And what would you have me do?" the detective asked after a while.

"Just be careful." was all Noah knew to say. "This is a damn slippery road."

Lassiter nodded. He´d understood. After a while he threw Bennet a gaze.

"Now what?" he asked. "Are we going on with the briefing?"

Bennet smiled. "Maybe I´ll take a coffee after all." he said.

**...**

It was going straight to ten p.m. and Andrea Arbogast was about to go to bed. She had to work the early shift tomorrow and she wanted to be rested. Too many letters had been left on her desk this last week. She went to the front door to check it one last time. After what she´d read in the newspapers lately, she´d locked it two times plus a chain hanging before it. Just in case this guy that had kidnapped all these people, should decide to pay a visit to her neighborhood.

Andrea was not the kind of person who intended to just get robbed and killed. She had a club under her pillow as well. A rattan stick she´d once used in training while she´d tried to learn martial arts. She´d stopped the training but she´d kept her experience and this club. If anyone should dare to enter her house in hostile intentions, he would regret it.

She checked the lock and it was safely closed. She checked the windows and they were safely closed too. Of course a burglar could still smash it but that she would hear and then she would have more than enough time to get up and take her club in position. So she assumed that she was save enough for the night.

She switched off the lights and went to her bedroom. Just when she was about to lie down, she heard a sound and halted. She listened but there was nothing. So she took her blanket to wrap it around herself. Over the rustling of the fabric she heard something again. And again she halted. Listened. There was something. Those sounds were not the usual sounds one heard at night. That wasn´t the fridge, not the heater and it was none of her neighbors. Because those sounds came from inside her apartment.

Slowly her hand wandered under her pillow and searched for the rattan stick. When she found it, her fingers closed tightly around it and she pulled it out. Another minute went by in which she only listened. This time her patience was rewarded. She heard it again. A flopping sound that was so strange that she couldn´t name the source. Her heart started to pound in her chest. What the hell was that? And what was it doing in her apartment? Was that a burglar? It definitely didn´t sound like one.

Slowly she stood up and walked out of her room, desperately trying to calm herself down. Whatever she did, she mustn´t panic. Panic got people killed in critical situations. After she´d checked the hallway and found it empty, she switched on the light and went out, the stick in her hand always ready to strike. Then she heard the sound again. It was louder this time.

FFFloppp.

It came from the living room.

Andrea swallowed dryly but went on. She would find out what this was and if it was the last thing she did.

She reached the door and peeked around it. There was no one and nothing in her living room. Everything was just like always. Andrea frowned. What the hell? She lowered her club and stepped into the room. She knew she´d heard it coming from in here. But now it was gone.

She turned around and looked into every direction. Something had to be here. But there was nothing. Except … the heap of papers she´d put on her table had been scattered on her floor. Again she grabbed her stick tighter. So someone had been here. And that was the moment when she felt the draft. As if a window was standing open. But she´d closed them all. She´d checked them twice. All of them.

That thought, convinced and sure about its truth, should be the last thought she would ever think. The next moment, this strange sound, she´d come here to check out, was right next to her.

FFFFFlllloooppppp.

Andrea swirled around, he club raised and ready to strike. And then all hell broke loose.


	6. Suspicions

**Suspicions**

It was early in the morning. Shawn was sitting on his desk in the Psych office, feet on the table, arms crossed over his chest. Not just to be comfortable. He was trying to think, and that was not the easiest thing to do, tired as he was. He´d slept very less once again the night before.

His thoughts were drifting off again and again. Instead of analyzing what he knew about he case, he found himself thinking about the Company or Sylar. His eyes checked the windows again. Every time someone walked by, he flinched inwardly, expecting to be attacked.

Damn he had to stop that. He tried to call himself to order, each time, but it didn´t help much. It just happened again and again.

He grabbed the gun tighter he´d stolen from his dad´s house. He didn´t plan to use it but to just sit here and wait for the Company to come and shoot him, was not quite comforting either, bulletproofed vest or not. It was ridiculous. He was already transforming into a second Lassie with this, sleeping with the gun under the pillow and all. It was stupid. It was frightening. And it was exhausting. God, he was so tired.

After a while his head fell back and rested against his chair´s backrest. Just a moment, he thought. A short catnap. Sometimes that helped. Just closing and resting his eyes for a moment, to refuel his brain with new power. He closed his eyes and tried to let go for the moment.

Obviously he didn´t make it though. Somehow Veronica Payton, their latest missing person, found her way into his dream. He recognized her at once. She looked exactly like the woman on the picture. Long brown hair, green eyes, slim figure. She was walking along a street in the dark, obviously heading for some place. Shawn called out for her, but she didn´t react. Instead she looked at the fountain she just passed, running her hand through the water, briefly, and then just walked on as if she hadn´t even heard him.

Shawn hurried after her. He had to tell her that her mother had called the police to report her missing, that people thought she´d been kidnapped while she was obviously all right and just enjoying a nice walk in the dark. He saw her vanishing behind a corner and ran, to not to lose her.

When he reached the corner, he stopped dead in his tracks.

There she was. Ahead, on the other side of the street, talking to someone. A man. He had his back to Shawn, so he couldn´t see his face. But when Veronica was pushed back, against the wall, by an invisible force, Shawn just knew who it was. He had his hand reached out, his finger pointing at her. Veronica´s eyes were big with fear and then a cut appeared on her forehead all on its own. And she screamed.

"No." Shawn cried and ran, over the street to help her.

The invisible hand let go of Veronica and she fell. Dead. Shawn had just reached the dark figure, her killer, ready to grab him, but Sylar was faster. He swirled around and looked at him with a solemn smile. Shawn couldn´t move. Now it was him who was in the telekinetic grip of the murderer.

"Well hello, Psychic." Sylar said, smiling, and raised his hand to point this nasty and very deadly finger at Shawn´s head. Something cracked and Shawn was convinced, it had to be his own skull … until he flinched up and out of his dream.

He grabbed the gun completely by instinct and a shot rang out, before he even knew he´d pulled the trigger. A hole appeared in the middle of one of the boomerangs that decorated the wall. The thin wooden thing tipped over and fell to the ground with a clattering sound.

Gus stood in the door, staring at him, mouth open.

"Shawn!" he cried. "Are you out of your damn mind? What the hell are you doing?"

Shawn lay the gun down, as careful as a Ming vase. "I …" he stuttered. "I had a bad dream."

"And that´s a reason to fire off as soon as someone comes in?" Gus asked. "You could have shot me."

Though he hadn´t said it very seriously, Shawn felt guilty. He was right, he could have shot him. Gus´ seemingly calm tone didn´t take anything away from that idea. What a thought.

His friend walked up to him, a solemn look in his eyes.

"Where did you get the gun from?" he asked.

"My dad." Shawn said and when Gus looked at him asking, he added with a tired shrug: "I borrowed it."

"Shawn." Gus said, shoulders hanging, and he sounded like a father who was worn out by the unreasonable behavior of his kid. "You really should sleep more at night."

Shawn exhaled. "Yeah, I´ll keep that in mind." he said.

"I told you before and I´ll tell you again. There is no one out there that would come for you."

"The Company …"

"The Company is disabled." Gus talked right over him, gently but firmly. "You were there. Roth is out and now that he´s gone, they will start over and reorganize the whole management."

"How do you want to know?"

"Because that´s how big Companies like that work." Gus insisted. "It´s business economics. Trust me. You don´t have any reason to fear for your life. There _are_ people watching you, but it is people like me, who only want to help and protect you."

Shawn gave his friend a long and tired look. He knew he just wanted to help so he didn´t argue. Gus obviously took his silence for agreement and nodded satisfied.

"What else are you doing?" he then asked casually while walking over to his desk. "Besides shooting at innocent coworkers and possible clients that is."

"I just … try to make any sense of this case." Shawn told him and suppressed a yawn. He packet the gun into his drawer. Somehow he didn´t like it lying on his desk like that. "I don´t know." he said. "I start to wonder, if the Company might know anything about all this." Before Gus could object, he raised both hands. "Just if they might have information." he explained himself. "They are the experts in these things after all."

"You don´t wanna work with the Company, Shawn." Gus stated. "Believe me. They´re no good company." He noticed the pun he´d made unwillingly and smiled selfconsciously. But then he noticed the newspaper on Shawn´s desk. The main article read: "Kidnapper takes fourth in two weeks – police still in the dark."

"Shawn." Gus said, trying to sound reasonable. "I know these things we experienced lately were strange and … weird and … crazy. But to see supernatural things in every second case we get because of that, is the first step to being paranoid."

"I´m not seeing these things in every second case." Shawn defended himself. "But four missing people in only two weeks. Even for a serial killer this would be somewhat of an overkill. Literally. I mean … That´s not even an escalation. That would be pure insanity."

Gus seemed to think this over for a moment but then he said: "It doesn´t mean that there isn´t a completely rational explanation for that."

"Sure. A person with an ability for example." Shawn replied.

"That is not rational, Shawn. That´s obsessed."

"This guy has so many abilities, how can we be sure?" Shawn cried. "And he is an insane serial killer."

"You mean Sylar?" Gus sounded surprised.

"Who else?" Shawn grumbled.

"But … it´s not him." Gus insisted. "Sylar wants to change."

"How do you want to know?"

Gus shrugged. "Isn´t that what he said?" he recalled. "Besides. He used to kill people right ahead and didn´t kidnap them." When Shawn didn´t give a response, he shook his head. "Listen, I only say that it is absolutely all right to be effected by those things. But we must not let it distract us from our real life. If we start to see Sylar´s shadow or the shadow of the Company behind every second corner, we will never be able to get back to our normal lives. And that is exactly what you are doing right now. You see things in a case that are not there. Things you never even would have considered before we knew Sylar."

Shawn sank down deeper into his chair again. "I don´t know." he said. "I just … had a dream about him."

Gus smirked but managed to hide it. "Really?" he asked.

Shawn nodded. "He killed this Veronica Payton." he told him. "Right before you came in. He waited for her on her way to the Chinese restaurant and he killed her like he always killed his victims. With this …" Shawn imitated the movement of Sylar´s finger in his lack of words for the action.

"That´s why you are focused on him while you should focus on the case." Gus reasoned with him.

"Don´t tell me that it hasn´t crossed your mind too." Shawn cried.

"Of course it crossed my mind, Shawn. But I thought it over and I dismissed it. And you know why? Because the only reason why we think of it in the first place, is the aftermath."

"What has math to do with it?"

"Shawn." Gus demanded his friend´s attention. There was a gentle smile in his eyes. "You overlook some things here." he told him. "One year ago you would have noticed that the way Veronica took to get to the restaurant, crossed the last crime scene of McNab´s case. The vandals."

"Really?" Shawn frowned.

"You see? This is something you would have never missed under different circumstances. You are distracted. You are not focused."

"Of course, I´m a little distracted. The Company that sent people to kill me and Jules is still around and right now they are in the process of reorganizing themselves. And as if that isn´t enough, a psycho killer is running free somewhere out there."

"You really think he´s coming back for you?" Gus asked.

"I don´t know. I just … can´t stop thinking about the possibility. I … It is as if I see his writing in every …"

"What?" Gus probed. "In every case, don´t you? You think he leaves messages for you to drive you crazy. Don´t you?"

Shawn looked at his friend in desperation. "Am I going crazy, Gus?" he asked.

Gus looked at him kindly. "No." he said. "Not as long as you can consider that possibility. Now at least we talk about the real deal. Acceptance is the first step."

Shawn allowed himself to think this over and then nodded. "Maybe you´re right." he said.

"Of course I am."

"Okay. Let´s have another look at this case then. From the right angle this time."

"All right." Gus said relieved. "But quickly. I have another appointment in half an hour."

"Again?"

"A product doesn´t sell itself, Shawn. I just stopped by to check on you."

"All right, all right. I´ll be quick." Shawn promised. "So Veronica crossed the path of the vandals you said?"

**...**

It was the most confusing way of waking up, he could remember. For the first time in weeks he felt refreshed and not already tired of the mere thought of getting up. But it was also disturbing and he didn´t know why. Until he realized that he hadn´t woken up from the screaming sound of his alarm clock and that it was, in fact, already bright outside.

Mohinder sat bolt upright. Did he oversleep? But then he remembered what had happened last night and his scare was even deeper. Sylar. Sylar had done something. He didn´t know what but he didn´t need to know to be sure it was something awful. He´d known that it would happen, sooner or later. Now it had happened. And he hadn´t been able to prevent it.

He struggled out of his bed, noticing on the edge of his perception that he was still fully dressed. Sylar must have drugged him somehow so he wouldn´t get in his way by whatever it was he´d done yesterday.

Not even thinking about it, he rushed out of his room, to Sylar´s door. First he knocked (hammered) against it, but when he didn´t get a reaction after five seconds, he just opened the door forcefully. The room was empty and the bed didn´t look as if it was used the previous night.

Mohinder heard the blood rush in his ears. Where was he? What had he done?

He went back outside and looked around, aimlessly while his mind tried to find a way to cope with this situation. Sylar was gone and he had no idea where. If there´d been anything over these last few weeks that had helped him to feel somehow in control over the situation (and Sylar) then it had been the fact that he´d always known where the killer was. Now he was gone and he didn´t know where. What was Sylar doing? Worse: What had he already done?

Mohinder´s eyes fell on the diner downstairs. Even though he knew that it was probably useless, he hurried down the stairs and crossed the parking lot. When he entered the diner, he found Roberta behind her counter, pouring coffee to one of her customers. Mohinder looked around for a moment but of course Sylar wasn´t there.

"Roberta." he addressed the woman, out of breath.

"Yes, sir." she answered with a mocking salute. "Ready for report."

"This is not funny." Mohinder breathed. "Do you know where Sylar is? Please tell me he´s in the back."

For a moment, the mocking smirk in Roberta´s eyes was replaced with confusion. "No." she said. "His shift starts in half an hour. He´s not late yet."

"But he is." Mohinder replied and cursed under his breath, now really desperate and helpless on how to proceed.

"You should calm down, dear." Roberta told him with a frown. "He´s probably just around the corner to get some cigarettes or something."

"Sylar doesn´t smoke." Mohinder burst out, completely aware of the fact how ridiculous this sounded.

"Listen." Roberta said. "I know you are worried that he might use again but I´ve worked with the guy for seven weeks now and I can estimate people pretty good …"

"Sylar´s not like other people." Mohinder talked over her, causing a grim and very exasperated look. "I need to find him." he mumbled to himself, totally ignoring Roberta by now.

"He´ll be back." the waitress emphasized rolling her eyes. "In half an hour from now. I guarantee it. Just wait."

Mohinder looked at her and his mind was racing. Maybe she was right. Maybe the killer would come back. Maybe he was arrogant enough to believe that he´d get away with whatever he´d done tonight. And when he would come back, Mohinder would wait for him. Oh, yeah he would be ready for him. And this time there was no discussion. This time Sylar wouldn´t talk himself out of it. No more.

**...**

Juliet clicked on another file and opened the report. It was disturbing what she read there. All these people. So many lives ended by only one man and in such gruesome ways. Heads sliced open, brains removed, their bodies left behind, sometimes in a more than unnatural position, like Mina Singh, hung on the banister of her home´s stairs. What kind of person did things like that?

Juliet almost couldn´t believe that it was a human being at all. At least not a human being like the one she´d met. The one that had actually saved her life by catching five to six bullets for her. But it was the same person. He´d admitted it himself. He´d never denied that he was a murderer and she mustn´t forget that. Still it was unbelievable.

"Jules." Shawn´s voice called her.

He was clearly excited about something. The expression she saw on his face, was something she´d missed far too long. "I´ve got something for you." he told her, his hand hovering at the level of his temple. But then he noticed where she was and he frowned. "What are you doing on Lassie´s computer?" he asked, grinning again the next second. "You wanna plant some funny sound effects?"

"No." she sighed. "I just read some files he ordered some time ago."

Shawn threw a look at the screen and frowned. "Sylar? Where did he get these from?"

"Mary." she told him and shook her head. "I´m worried, Shawn. He develops kind of an obsession with Sylar lately."

Shawn thought this over for a moment, rather seriously. But then he shrugged. "Well, you know him long enough to know that these obsessions come and go. What makes you think it´ll be different this time?"

She only gave him a face as if to ask him: really?

"Okay, maybe that´s a bad example." he admitted with a tiny smirk. "But you seem to somehow share his interest, don´t you? Or why are you reading this?"

"Because … Because of something Carlton said." she shrugged. "He said I´d defend him, when I said I didn´t believe he´d come back to kill me."

"And why don´t you think that?" Shawn asked, going down to crouch next to her.

"Because …" she halted for a second. "Please don´t get this wrong but … when he told me that he loved me that day in the church … I think he really meant it. I know he said it´s because of this … ability of mine, to make people love me and all that. I still don´t understand how this is supposed to work but … What I want to say is … there was something earnest in his eyes. I mean yours … I mean … You know what I mean?"

Shawn chuckled slightly but nodded. "You do know that this guy is a psychopath though?" he asked.

"I know." Juliet sighed and looked at the screen as if she could find her answers there. "That´s exactly the reason why I´m reading this." she explained. "To remind myself of that fact. To not to forget what he is … and what he did." After a while of just staring at the last photos in which she still didn´t find any answers, she turned bach to Shawn. "What about you?" she asked. "What do you think of him?"

"I´m not sure." he admitted frankly. "Having him in my head was a weird thing. I´m working on getting him out of there. I think I´m on a good way."

Juliet sighed and shook her head while her eyes were once again fixed on the screen.

"Sometimes I wonder if he´ll ever leave us alone." she said.

Shawn looked at her in a funny way. He smiled slightly as if she´d just said something funny. She frowned. "What?"

"Gus said something to me about exactly that. He said we mustn´t allow Sylar to control our lives because of what happened. He´s not so wrong about that."

"No." she agreed.

Shawn suddenly brought his hand down on the edge of the table. "Gee, you see?" he cried. "Now I almost forgot why I came here. It´s because of that talk I had with Gus. We were talking about the missing people and I had a vision. I saw Veronica Payton …" he halted with a frown. "No, wait I had a dream about her." he recalled. "I saw her passing that fountain. The one the vandals smashed two days ago."

"That´s Buzz´s case." Juliet realized.

"I know. Ehm … I saw the following. She passed this very fountain when it was still intact. And then something happened. And after that the fountain was destroyed and she was missing."

"That´s all?" Juliet asked. "You have no idea what happened?"

Shawn could only shrug. Juliet bit her lower lip. Dammit. But that was at least a new perspective on the whole thing. Maybe … She turned around and searched the station, until she spotted the young officer.

"Buzz." she called him and when he heard her voice, he immediately jumped up, rushing over to her. "Buzz, it´s about that case you´re working on." she said.

"The vandalism?"

"Yeah. Do you have a list of when these attacks happened? I´d like to test a theory of mine."

"Ehm, sure." McNab said and needed a moment to remember that the needed information were on his desk. He returned a minute later, a sheet of paper in his hand. "That´s all we have so far." he told her and undisguised disappointed he added: "That´s pretty much all we have so far. Unbelievable that a bunch of guys who destroy so much, can get away unseen all the time."

Juliet went to her computer and opened one of her own files. Shawn and Buzz watched her while she compared some dates.

"You were right, Shawn." she said at last. "The dates match almost perfectly."

"Sorry, what matches perfectly?" Buzz asked them both.

Juliet looked up at him, a startled expression on her face. "I believe we´re working the same case." she said. "See? Our missing people were always reported missing one or two days after these vandals attacked somewhere. And this man here." she pointed at a name on the list. "His brother said he used to walk home from work along Richmond Street."

"That´s where the vandals destroyed this park area." McNab recalled. "Dear god, it _is_ the same case."

"O´Hara." Lassiter´s voice barked through the station. "We just got a call. There was a break in at 37 Beaumont Street. The resident of the place is dead."

"Let me guess." Shawn cried and raised his hand to his temple. "The place was destroyed. By the vandals."

Lassiter frowned at him. "How do you know?"

Shawn smirked. "Never try to beat me at my game, Lassie." he said.

Lassiter grumbled. "Whatever. McNab, good that you´re already here. You´re coming with. This seems to be related to your case."

On their way out, Shawn took out his cell phone, to call Gus.

"Dude, you were right." he told him excited. "There´s a new thing. We meet at 37 Beaumont Street. This is going to be hot."

"What?" Gus cried on the other end. "Slow down, Shawn. I was right? About what?"

"The vandals." Shawn explained, still far too excited. "Remember what we talked about this morning? You were right. The two cases _are_ connected. They broke into a house and we have a body. Dude, you were so right."

"What are you talking about, Shawn?" Gus asked him as if he were crazy. "I didn´t even see you this morning."


	7. Where To Go From Here

**Where to go from here**

"Be careful when you go in." Buzz told them, coming out of the house. "There´s a lot of stuff you can stumble over. CSI is still cleaning up in there. But …"

"We´ll be careful." Juliet said.

He hadn´t exaggerated. The place was a complete mess. Almost everything that hadn´t been affixed had been thrown around and even some things that had been affixed. These bastards seemed to have a lot of strength, Lassiter figured. Or they just hated certain kinds of furniture. There was even a hole in the wall. The brigs at the edge were hanging askew. It had a diameter of at least fifty centimeters.

The victim lay outstretched on the ground, her hands clinging to the door, as if she´d tried to hold onto it while someone tried to drag her away. At first sight it was not easy to tell what had killed her, but it was pretty obvious that she´d been beaten up. There was dirt hanging in her hair, mainly splinters of wood.

"Goddamn bastards." Lassiter grumbled at the sight. "Now they´re really going nuts. Finally found the bravery to enter a house for their session."

Juliet didn´t say anything. She just looked at the dead woman and shook her head. "Poor thing, probably never had a chance against them."

"This place looks as if a hurricane rushed through here." McNab commented not less sad.

Lassiter didn´t listen to them anymore. His interest was currently fixed on Shawn´s unusually serious face.

"Spencer?" he addressed him and was not less surprised that he actually startled the fake psychic. He almost looked as if he´d been caught. Lassiter frowned. "Anything you wanna share?" he asked.

Shawn cleared his throat and pretended to look around. Lassiter noticed the uncomfortable gaze he threw at the hole in the wall, before he went on looking over the rest of the room, his hand always hovering at the level of his temple. But the greatest surprise should still come.

"I´m afraid I´m not getting anything value right now." Shawn said. "I feel that whatever happened in here, happened fast … and … what is her name?"

"Ehm … Andrea Arbogast." Juliet answered after a moment.

"She had not even time to realize what hit her." Shawn went on. "I sense that whatever killed her …"

"_What_ever?" Lassiter interrupted him. "Don´t you mean _who_ever?"

Shawn only shook his head. "I´m sorry, I told you I don´t get anything clear right now. I mean, what do you want? I already divined for you that vandal case and kidnapper case are the same case."

McNab nodded in agreement at this.

"I guess my psychic fuel is a little low after that." Shawn went on. "Besides. The atmosphere in this room seems to disturb my Juju. I need to get out of here to clear it again and then I´ll call you back."

With that he was already on his way out. Lassiter almost couldn´t believe it. He was pretty sure the fake psychic was hiding something. Something that he didn´t want them to know yet. But that was all right. He had his own ideas of what had happened in here. And these ideas all included this strange hole in the wall, Shawn had seemed to be so uncomfortable with.

Juliet was about to follow Shawn outside, obviously determined to find out what troubled him, but Lassiter called her back.

"We have work to do." he told her. "Everything else you can talk about later."

She looked at the door through which Shawn had vanished for a moment. But then she lowered her gaze and nodded. Lassiter threw one last look after Spencer as well, and then went back to his work. Should the fake psychic have his moment to clear his head. He would come back with something ridiculous soon enough.

**...**

"Are you crazy, Shawn?" Gus cried, walking into the Psych office. "We need to tell Lassiter and Juliet."

"Would you stop yelling for a second and just listen to me?"

Gus switched off his cell phone. "If it was really Sylar …"

"It was him." Shawn switched off his own phone too. "Or do you know anyone else who could fake this unique head of yours so accurately without some sort of plastic surgery?"

Gus halted for a moment. "That´s impossible." he found.

"See."

"But that´s only more reason to tell Jules and Lassie." Gus came back to the point. "He might be after them too."

"I´m not so sure that he´s after anyone here." Shawn cried before Gus could dial Lassiter´s number. "If he would have wanted to kill me, I would be dead by now, don´t you think?"

"Not if he wants to play a little with you first." Gus replied. "Like a cat with the mouse. People always say they are cute little animals, but they are gruesome killers. Did you ever see what they do with the mice?"

Shawn frowned. "Did we just change the subject?"

"No, we didn´t. Because that´s exactly what Sylar will do to you and to all of us for that matter, when he´s done playing. I´m calling Lassie."

"Wait." Shawn cried and snatched the phone away from him.

"You must be out of your damn mind, Shawn." Gus cried and reached for the phone on his desk. Shawn took that one as well.

"If we tell them now, then Jules will be worried to death and Lassie will be on a rampage and you know what will happen then."

"No, I don´t know that, Shawn. But I also don´t want to know what will happen if I don´t tell them. This guy already tried to kill me once."

"Yeah, I know. He tried to kill me too."

"Then what´s the matter with you?"

"I believe he doesn´t want to kill us anymore." Shawn said and Gus only snorted.

"Because he told you?"

"Yeah. No. It´s a little more complicated. He said that he wanted to protect me."

"What?" Gus cried, now finally convinced that Shawn had lost his mind.

"Something like that." Shawn affirmed. "He said …"

_You don´t have any reason to fear for your life. There _are_ people watching you but it is people like me, who only want to help and protect you._

"I think he´s the one who has been following me lately." he suddenly realized.

"And you really think that this guy is not after you?" Gus cried in disbelieve.

"If you´d ask Jules, she´d tell you the same." Shawn said and finally made his friend shut his mouth in astonishment. Shawn shook his head. "I can´t explain it. But the way he said it … I think she´s right. I think he´s actually earnest with that. I really don´t think that he´d want to kill us. He likes us. That´s at least what I think. He might kill other people but not us. I don´t know …"

"Great." Gus said with a false cynical smile. "You´re his Clarice to his Hannibal. Perfect. Then we have no reason to worry."

"Hey." Shawn cried. "Hannibal would never kill Clarice. And I didn´t say that I´m okay with this point of view. I only say that I believe that this is the way Sylar sees it."

"And what do we do about it now?"

"Dunno." Shawn shrugged. "Nothing. Not yet at least. I guess he will contact me again. I mean, he came in here to talk to me. He´ll do that again. Somehow."

"Great." Gus exclaimed. "And you just want to sit here and wait for him?"

"Not quite." Shawn replied. "I´d like to have something to demask him next time."

"And what? A bucket of water?"

"Don´t be silly, Gus. Sylar is no witch. He won´t melt."

"Then what?"

"Remember that dog whistle Mary had?" Shawn asked after a minute of thinking.  
>Gus thought for a moment, trying to recall the day on the pier. After another moment his eyes lit up.<p>

"I know a place where we can get some." he said.

"Then let´s go there." Shawn was already on his way out, and of course Gus was at his heels.

**...**

Sylar hurried up the stairs, heading for the door with the number 209. He hadn´t been gone for too long, so he figured there was hope he was still in time. Slowly he opened the door and peeked in, expecting, or at least hoping, to find Mohinder still asleep. He was immediately grabbed by the collar and pulled into the room. A second later he found himself pushed against the wall, a very angry looking Mohinder Suresh in his face.

"Hey." he brought out with a smirk. "You´re awake."

"What did you do?" Mohinder demanded to know. "You drugged me!"

"No." Sylar objected calmly. "I didn´t drug you. I simply put you to sleep, so you wouldn´t stay up all night."

"Why?" Mohinder snapped. "What did you do last night? WHO DID YOU KILL?!"

"I didn´t do anything." Sylar frowned over that accusation. He´d expected almost everything but that the geneticist still expected this … He´d thought they were over that.

"I DON´T BELIEVE YOU!" Mohinder yelled now and let go of his collar, to grab his throat instead. The grip was hard but controlled. So far.

He took something out of his pocket and held it up, for Sylar to see. It was the little remote, Mohinder had build back at the Company, the one Sylar had given back to him as a sign of his good will. Now it seemed that the scientist was ready to really use it. The way he showed it to him was enough to make the killer nervous. He remembered the pain this little thing could cause him very well.

"You told me to use this in case you should go too far." Mohinder recalled. "And now you´ve gone too far."

He activated the signal before Sylar even had a chance to say anything.

Within only a second pain shot through his head, as if a thousand needles had been driven into his brain. Sylar cried out and fell down, to his knees. Still Mohinder wouldn´t turn off the signal. He just stood over him, the remote in his hand, as if it were a gun.

And in some way it was. An acoustic gun.

Fortunately Mohinder was too enraged to hold it tight. Sylar saw his chance – his only chance – and used it. He lunged out. His telekinesis might be disabled by the pain, but his motoric functions were still working. That he hit the remote pinpointed out of Mohinder´s hand was pure luck though. The little thing flew to the ground and finally the pain stopped.

For a moment, Mohinder just stared after his weapon in utter disbelieve.

Sylar would have preferred it to take some time just to breathe, but he had a feeling that Mohinder´s shock wouldn´t last long. So he reached out his hand and collected all the willpower he´d left, to activate his telekinesis again. The geneticist got shoved backwards until _he_ was the one pinned to the wall.

Sylar lowered his head for a moment, finally allowing himself to indulge in his panting. Dammit, he hated this.

"Let me go." Mohinder demanded, struggling under Sylar´s invisible grip. "I knew, you were a murderer. I should have never trusted you."

Sylar wanted to say something but his panting came in the way. So instead of speaking, he raised one finger. "Give me a second."

"Tell me the truth." Mohinder cried. "What did you do?"

Sylar closed his eyes in exasperation. "I didn´t do anything, okay?" he managed to say. "At least … not what you think. I didn´t. Kill. Anyone. Okay?"

"And what about this woman?" Mohinder demanded an explanation.

Instead of being confronted the way Mohinder obviously had intended it, Sylar was confused. "Woman?" he repeated.

"Switch on the news." was all Mohinder said. His voice was low and his eyes dark and accusing.

Sylar turned around, to the little TV on the sideboard. He switched it on.

"… _after there has been a body found at the crime scene at last."_ the reporter just spoke into the camera. "_The police is now officially investigating a connection between the vandalism that terrorize our city and the kidnappings."_

Sylar couldn´t help but smiled. Good boy, he thought.

"You want to tell me you had nothing to do with that?" Mohinder dragged him out of his thoughts. "You drug me and the next day there´s a body popping up by pure coincidence?"

For a moment, Sylar was shocked. "I didn´t do that." he cried. Mohinder didn´t seem convinced at all. "Shawn is working on that case." Sylar explained. "Okay? I followed it in the news. I watched him. There were some things that seemed odd to me and I gave him a tip. That´s all I did."

"You gave him a tip?" Mohinder repeated wary. "How?"

Sylar chuckled. What did he think how he did it? "I talked to him." he said. "Just before I came back here in a matter of fact."  
>Mohinder frowned. "How did he react when he saw you?" he asked.<p>

"He didn´t know it was me. I was in disguise." Sylar smiled subtly and shrugged. "I guess by now he knows that."

"That doesn´t explain what you did during the night." Mohinder came back to the main point. "As far as I´m concerned you have no alibi for this woman´s death."

Sylar sighed and at last let go of the scientist. For a moment Mohinder seemed surprised as if he´d just remembered the fact that he had been held in the first place.

"You´re right." Sylar said. "I don´t have an alibi. No one was around to confirm that I was alone. You just have my word."

Mohinder seemed unsure. "How am I supposed to trust your word?" he asked.

Sylar shrugged. He had no idea how to convince this doubter. Except maybe … maybe he hadn´t hoped to get back in time before he woke up. Maybe he´d taken that chance subconsciously, knowing that it would result in his discovery. Maybe it was time to come clean.

"I was out almost every night these last … what? Two weeks?" he started to tell him and the surprise was unmistakable in Mohinder´s face. "Yeah, I guess it started two weeks ago." Sylar nodded more to himself than to Mohinder. "Almost around the time when this case started to come about." he suddenly realized. When Mohinder looked at him the fitting way, he repeated: "It wasn´t me. But the reason why I went out …" he stopped himself when he suddenly realized even more. "Is that possible?" he mumbled.

"What?" Mohinder asked, impatiently.

Sylar could only laugh and shake his head. "God, it´s so obvious." he chuckled, not able to compute his own blindness of such simple facts. "Sometimes it´s so simple." he said.

"What?" Mohinder repeated his question, demanding an answer.

"I felt that something was building up in the air." Sylar tried to explain it to him. "It was something like … tension. I don´t know how to describe it. But it was strong. I could feel it at night. In the darkness. That first night … I went out to find out what it was. Where it came from."

Mohinder´s eyes were wary but even he couldn´t hide the curiosity that was hidden underneath. "Did you find it?" he asked.

"No. But it got stronger since then. On my trips I noticed those destruction, the news talked about."

"The vandalism."

"Yes." Sylar smiled, so relieved to finally speak it out, and that Mohinder actually understood. "I thought it was just that, you know. Just some vandalism. But now I think it´s something entirely different. I can´t believe I didn´t see that earlier."

"What didn´t you see earlier?" Mohinder asked, slowly losing his patience.

"Isn´t it obvious?" Sylar was smiling excitedly. "There is destruction in this area, that happen without anyone ever saw how. No suspects. Destruction that looks as if a supernatural power caused it. People disappear without a trace. No pledges, no bodies. Think Mohinder. What does that sound like? Consider the possibility that I´m telling the truth, just for one second. What conclusion remains?"

"Someone with an ability lost control over his power." Mohinder spoke it out at last.

"Or is on a rampage." Sylar agreed, more and more excited.

"Like you, you mean?" Mohinder asked, a menacing look in his eyes.

Sylar lay his head askew. "Like me in the old days." he agreed halfway. "So now what do you say? Does that sound like we could be needed out there?"

At last Mohinder started to think about the whole idea. "I´ll check my list for a matching ability in this area." he finally said.

Sylar nodded at this, approvingly. Finally the Indian scientist, his warden by choice, started to think in his direction. He really believed him. That was almost better than he could have planned it – if he would have planned it.

"Oh, and Mohinder." he called him back before the scientist was out of the door. "Sorry for the …" He moved his hand before his own face to indicated the sleep inducing he´d used on him the night before. Mohinder only looked at him with hard eyes, not saying a word.

**...**

Lassiter entered the morgue, O´Hara right at his heels. He was eager to get briefed on the results of the autopsy. He was sure they´d prove his suspicions. And he´d have his proof before Spencer had a chance to pretend that he´d divined it psychically.

"Ah, detectives." Woody Strode greeted them with a wide smile. "Welcome."

"What do you´ve got for us?" Lassiter asked the coroner, getting straight to the point.

"Well, I can tell you that our poor Miss Arbogast here, died from an impact to her skull. I found splinters in the wound, so I assume it was a piece of wood that hit her."

"Foul play." Lassiter nodded. "We already guessed that."

"Naahh, not so fast." Woody objected. "The wound was located at the base of the skull. Usually when someone´s hit over the head by another person, the wound would be located farther up, at the top. But that´s not the case."

"So you mean, she knocked her head somewhere?" Juliet asked surprised.

But still Woody didn´t seem quite all right with that explanation.

"Then what the hell do you want to say?" Lassiter demanded an answer.

"You see the thing is …" Woody started to explain. "The hit she got, hit a nerve. It killed her instantly. The result of that immediate death was an instant contract of her muscles, which caused an immediate rigor mortis. Very rare but it can happen."

"That´s why her fingers were still clinging to the frame of her living room door." Juliet understood. "She never had a chance to let go of it."

"Very right, detective." Woody praised. "So what really troubles me is the rest of her body. There are several injuries all over her that look as if she´d been beaten by various kinds of objects. I mean if someone only hit her in a very strange way, I could explain it. But this …" He pointed at some of the bruises he´d examined on the body. They were really everywhere and they had different sizes and shapes.

"Did all of this happen before she died?" Juliet asked.

"Some of it. And some others are post mortem. Whatever happened to her, it didn´t end after she was already dead. Not immediately at least."

"What does that mean?" Lassiter asked.

"I can´t be sure of course." Woody admitted. "But if I may be frank?"

"I´d ask you to."

"You know. I used to work in Kansas before I moved to Santa Barbara and I used to have a lot of tornado-victims on my table back then. This woman really reminds me of those victims. People who died from flying objects that got blown around by the wind. Sometimes someone would be impaled by a lath or a bar but most of the time they die from impacts just like this poor girl. Not quite as unique in the results but …"

"You want to tell me that a tornado rushed through her house?" Lassiter snapped.

"Of course not." Woody replied. "That would be quite outrageous, wouldn´t it? But I must say the looks of these wounds really do remind of something like that. Either that or her attacker went completely nuts and threw everything at her that he could find. But in that case he must have one hell of a throw."

"Crap." Lassiter mumbled. The whole thing was different from what he had expected. But on the other hand … The guy was crazy. Why shouldn´t he go likewise on his victim and do something like that? Throwing things was nothing impossible for him, they´d seen that. And it wouldn´t even cause him some sweat to do so. The only thing that didn´t quite fit was the motive.

"Anything … special about her?" Lassiter asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, you know … in her blood or …"

"The tox screen was negative." Woody told him. "She hadn´t even drunk alcohol."

"That´s not what I meant."

"Well, what did you mean?"

"Oh, nothing special. You didn´t see any abnormalities in her DNA or something?"

"Well, I didn´t run a DNA test but I could send a sample to the lab if you insist on that. Any doubt about her identity?"

"No. No, I think such a test won´t be necessary after all." Lassiter declined. "Thank you, doctor."

With that he left the room, O´Hara right at his heels.

"Carlton, where are you going with this?" she asked him, trying to keep up with him.

"I think you know where I´m going with this." he answered and took his cell phone out.

"Who are you gonna call?" she demanded to know, grateful that he finally stopped.

"Someone who claimed to know where this bastard is, last time I spoke to him." Lassiter answered her question already dialing.

"You want to call Bennet?" Juliet asked and when Lassiter still didn´t look at her, she grabbed his arm and pulled it down. "You think it´s Sylar?" she asked.

"You don`t? You heard what he said."

"I know but that doesn´t mean …"

"O´Hara …"

"How do you want to justify your suspicions before the chief?" Juliet demanded to know. "You have no solid proof."

"I don´t need any solid proof because I don´t plan to go to the chief with it."

"What does that mean?" she cried. "What do you want to do?"

"Detective Lassiter." someone addressed him.

"What?" both, Lassiter and Juliet snapped and turned around to the newcomer.

McNab looked at them startled for a moment but this moment passed rather quickly. "There is someone here you should see." he told Lassiter. "He says it´s about all the destructed areas … and the missing people."


	8. Interrogation

**Interrogation**

Lassiter´s mood had sunken rapidly when he´d seen the man McNab had announced to him. That was definitely something he hadn´t expected. It was one thing that suspects came to the station all on their own, sometimes that happened. But that? Lassiter was not sure what to do with this. He ordered McNab to put him in interrogation room A, that was the first and only thing he knew that couldn´t be wrong. Everything else would have to follow. And Lassiter was more than anxious to find out what that might be.

He entered the interrogation room, almost unable to take his eyes off that man behind the table. What are you hiding, he thought.

"All right, Mr. … Wieland." was what he said. "You said you had some information for us about these destructed areas we´re investigating?"

"And maybe about … about these missing people too." Wieland said. He was talking with an accent of some sort. Lassiter couldn´t quite place it. It wasn´t Mexican, even though the man had a slight mediterranean touch. "You … You suspect that the cases are related, don´t you?" he asked him now, ringing his hands nervously. "I saw it in the news."

"That is correct, Mr. Wieland." Lassiter replied with a polite but forced smile. "Excuse me, but you are not an American citizen, is that right?"

"No. No, my sister is." Wieland answered at once. "I ehm … I´m just here on vacation to visit her. I´m from Switzerland."

"I see." Lassiter said and made a mental note, to not to believe these TV versions of the Swizz accents anymore. It was not how this man sounded. Not at all. "And how long are you here now?" he asked him.

"For two weeks." Wieland answered eagerly as if that was the question he´d been waiting for all along. "I came here around the same time when these incidents started to occur."

Lassiter looked at this strange man before him and almost couldn´t believe it. Did he just confess that he was the one behind all this? All right, he didn´t quite say `It was me´, but it almost sounded like that.

"That´s at least what my sister told me." Wieland added to his speech now.

"How about you start at the beginning." Lassiter suggested and sat down.

"Sure. Yeah, ehm. Well. The beginning." Wieland chuckled. "This is quite a while ago."

"How long?"

Wieland looked down for a moment, thinking, his lips pressed into a thin line, his brows slightly raised. "When I´m honest almost twenty years." he said.

Lassiter exhaled and closed his eyes for a moment. Why did this situation cause a feeling of dejavu? Something about it seemed very familiar.

"You don´t want to tell me that all of this started in your childhood." he asked Wieland.

"No." the Swizz immediately denied and chuckled. "God no, I´m not _that_ young. Though I´m of course flattered."

"What is the beginning of the story then?" Lassiter asked impatiently.

"That would be my hiring at C.E.R.N." Wieland answered.

"C.E.R.N.?" Lassiter repeated.

"Conceil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire. That´s the European Organisation for Nuclear Research. " Wieland told him. "I´m a particle physicist. I work at the ATLAS-experiment."

"What´s that?"

"Well … I can´t tell you too much about it. I signed a confidentiality agreement but the basic that is also known to the public is … that we are trying to artificially create black holes."

For a moment Lassiter could only stare at this man before him with a blank face. "Are you kidding me?" he asked.

Wieland only smiled. "That´s the usual reaction." he said. "But no. I´m not kidding. The project is running for years now. It´s nothing you hear in the daily news, so you probably didn´t hear too much about it."

Nothing to be precise, Lassiter added in his mind but didn´t say anything. So far he tried to figure out what the whole topic had to do with his case. Though he had a creeping idea in the back of his mind, that he so far tried to ignore. Unsuccessfully.

"You don´t try to tell me that the destructed areas here in Santa Barbara were caused by … black holes?" he asked Wieland and if it was only to hear another laughter from the physician and one of his God no´s. But instead of laughing, Mr. Wieland´s smile decreased at his question and he lowered his eyes as if he was embarrassed. Lassiter couldn´t believe it.

"I don´t know anything for sure, of course." Wieland now said. "But … since my sister pointed out to me that all this started just after my arrival here … you see."

"No, I don´t see. Tell me. In detail."

Wieland sighed and interlaced his fingers, while he looked at his hands as if he had a piece of paper hidden there where the words he needed now, were written.

"I … travel a lot." he said. "Business travels. All around the world. I´ve been in India, Japan, China and some European countries. America too of course. But usually my trips last for only a few days and so I´m not really interested in the local news when I´m there. At least … I wasn´t. But since what my sister said to me a few days ago, about … you know. Since then … I started to remember. And I think it´s possible that I heard … news like these … on other places where I was, too. I mean, never that many but … vandalism … a missing person here and there. I never payed much attention to it. I never stayed long enough _to_ pay attention to it. Things like that happen all the time, I thought. Don´t they?"

"And now you think …" Lassiter started but didn´t quite know how to finish the sentence.

"Now I think it´s probably not as random as I believed." Wieland finished the sentence for him.

"I don´t get it. Do you carry a machine with you that can handily open a black hole in case the casual gentlemen needs one?"

Wieland smiled but it was a sad smile. "No." he said as if the question had been serious. "But I think …" he sighed heavily. "I know that sounds crazy but … I think maybe … Maybe I … I don´t know … maybe these holes … somehow follow me. I know that sounds crazy. But …"

He lowered his head again, lack of words and maybe ashamed of himself. Lassiter didn´t care. The only thing he could think of was: Not again. How often did he have to bear suspects in this room that claimed to have certain supernatural abilities? He threw a glance at the two-way mirror and tried to imagine what his partner was thinking about all this now.

"You know what." he addressed the broken man on the other side of the table. "I think I´m gonna talk this over with my partner. Maybe I know someone you can talk to about all this. It´ll just be a minute."

He left the room with far too many questions in his head, way more than he´d had when he´d entered the room. He couldn´t wait to hear what O´Hara would say to all of this. But instead of her, he was confronted with Spencer and Guster.

"It´s all right, Lassie." Shawn immediately blurred. "I talk to him."

"Stop." Lassiter blocked his way. "Not so fast."

"But you said you knew someone he should talk to." Shawn cried.

"I wasn´t talking about you." Lassiter replied and finally faced his partner. "What do you say?"

She could only shake her head, helplessly. Not that he´d expected anything else, but that was all he´d needed. He took out his cell phone and made the call.

**...**

"Prof. Dr. Frank Wieland." Bennet read off his file. "Born in Bern, 1972. Made his Master in Physics at the University of Cambridge. Taught physics at the University of Munich until 2008. Then he became a C.E.R.N. Research Fellow and started to work on the ATLAS-program. He upgraded since then. By now he´s fully participating at the ATLAS-experiments and teaches Master and Bachelor Students in Geneva."

"Wow." Shawn exclaimed. "He really gets around."

"Yeah, nice." Lassiter added. "But that is actually the same information we already have about him."

"Then it´s a good thing that I have some more." Bennet replied unimpressed. "Seems our friend here is highly fascinated about … let´s say the darkness. He´s a night owl. The descriptions of his colleagues about him vary from strange to weird. His interest in the ATLAS-program seems to be more profound than just scientific. As if he was searching for something."

"How do you know all this?" Gus asked startled.

"Lauren did some digging. You´d be surprised how much you can find out with some sources within the CIA."

"Do you think he´s right with his … assumption?" Lassiter wanted to know.

"That he attracts the black holes?" Bennet spoke it out. He looked at the man in the interrogation room and shook his head. "All I can say is that we have no information about him. At least as far as I know. If he is a Special then he hasn´t been around. At least not enough to attract attention."

"What about the Company?"

"As long as the Company hasn´t proven itself to me, I don´t trust them with anything." Bennet stated and got an approving nod from Shawn. "It would be a grave mistake to bring them into this, believe me."

"So what do we do with him?" Lassiter asked.

Again, Bennet studied the figure on the other side of the two-way mirror. "Let me talk to him." he said. "Maybe I can find out some more."

**...**

The door went open and Wieland looked up, startled out of his thoughts.

"Hello, Mr. Wieland." Bennet entered the room.

"Where´s the detective I talked to earlier?" the physicist asked confused.

"Detective Lassiter´s outside." Bennet told him. "He called me and asked me for my advise in your case. My name is Noah Bennet and I´m an expert … let´s say for people like you. _If_ you are a person like the ones I used to work with. I´m here to find that out."

"What kind of people did you work with?" Wieland asked uneasy. "I´m not crazy if that´s what you think. I´m an internationally known physicist. I have a PhD."

"Don´t worry, doctor. I´m not a psychologist." Bennet said. "I … used to work for an organization that used to do research on people with special abilities."

"Special abilities?"

"Yes."

"You´re talking in the past about all this." Wieland noticed. "Aren´t you …?"

"The organization I worked for is currently … let´s say on hiatus. I don´t work for them anymore but you may trust me that I still know how to do the job if necessary."

"What job?" Wieland wanted to know. He seemed to feel more and more uncomfortable in Bennet´s presence.

"Right now my job is it to find out if you are one of these special people I talked about." Noah told him.

"How do you want to find that out?" Wieland asked.

"Let´s start with a few simple questions. You told detective Lassiter that you believe you would have some … special connections to objects that are called black holes."

"I didn´t say I have a connection. I said that it is possible … I don´t know … that they follow me. Everywhere I travel there were … incidents. Or at least I think there were. I remember a few news that I heard while I was in Tokyo or Peking or Berlin. News that are similar to what´s currently happening here in Santa Barbara."

"And what did you do when you heard those news?"

"Nothing. As I said, I didn´t think about any connection at all."

"But now you do. Why?"

Wieland shook his head. "I don´t know. It´s just … I don´t know."

"Did you experience anything unusual since you´re here in Santa Barbara? Any new … feelings or actual abilities?"

"No." There was a very disturbed look in Wieland´s eyes. "You keep saying this word." he said. "Abilities. What do you mean with that?"

"Mr. Wieland you claim that these black holes follow you." Bennet tried a careful approach. "Do you have any idea why they should do that?"

"No." Wieland cried. "I mean I work with the LHC on a regular base but so do many others."

"The LHC." Bennet repeated. "That´s the particle accelerator at C.E.R.N. right?"

Wieland nodded and Bennet mirrored the nod. "I understand that you were profoundly fascinated by the darkness since your early youth, is that correct?" the Company man went on.

This time Wieland didn´t answer at once. For a while he just sat there and stared at Bennet thunder struck. "How do you know what I was interested in when I was a teen?" he asked.

"We did some research. Would you answer the question with a yes?"

"Yes, but …"

"Would you say that this interest like you call it, was accompanied by let´s say … a certain understanding … for the darkness. Like an affinity?"

Again Wieland only stared at him, unable to compute what he heard. But then his eyes dropped down and he seemed to think. As if he tried to search his own mind for an answer. Bennet watched him closely while he was searching. At last Wieland looked at him again.

"I´m not sure where you want to go with this." he said. "But I´m not a Satanist or anything like that."

"You are just deeply interested and attracted to the darkness." Bennet replied. "Aren´t you?"

Wieland held his gaze, still looking very careful and awake. "So what?" he finally said. "That´s not forbidden."

"It´s not." Bennet agreed. "Was that the reason why you wanted to work at the ATLAS-project?"

"I don´t think that I want to talk to you any longer." Wieland said.

"That´s all right." Bennet replied. "I have everything I need. For now."

With that he stood up and left the room and an extremely wary Frank Wieland behind.

"Now what?" Lassiter asked him, back in the viewing room.

"I think he is a Special of some sort." Bennet said. "But if he has an ability, he doesn´t know it."

"Is that even possible?" Juliet asked.

Bennet only looked at her. "You didn´t know about yours." he said. "So yeah, it is possible."

"How can this guy not know that he rips open the space time continuum?" Gus cried. "He causes destruction after all."

"The way he describes it, he isn´t around when these black holes open up. If he´s right and it really is black holes."

"How can he be the reason and not be around when it happens?" Lassiter asked.

"Black holes are very instable." Gus answered before Bennet had a chance. "Maybe …"

"Maybe he´s just the pole that marks the area in which they open and the rest is pure coincidence." Bennet went on for him, nodding in agreement. "I need to do some more research. About the places he visited so far and if there really were incidents like that."

"We can do that." Lassiter cried.

Bennet nodded. "All right. But there is still something else I need to check out and that is something only I can do. It´s in my old Company files." He waited for Lassiter to agree and when he saw that the detective did, he gave him a nod. "I call you as soon as I know more."

**...**

Roberta sat the plate down on the table and told her customers to enjoy their meals. While she wiped her hands on her handkerchief, she glanced over to her employee. The guy was behind the counter, cleaning the oven from the egg rests. Now and then he´d throw a look out of the window, at the parking lot. Roberta didn´t need to ask him. She´d noticed that the Nissan his friend used to drive for the taxi company, was still there today. He hadn´t gone to work and she had an idea why.

"Your friend doesn´t seem to need the money." she mentioned when she came back to the counter.

Sylar looked at her, puzzled for a moment. But then he smiled. "He´s working on something today." he said.

"Has this something to do with where you went this morning?" she asked, looking casually.

He shrugged. "Sort of."

"Ahem." she made, still pretending to be busy examining the contents of her cash register. "Honestly." she said. "You should have seen him when he came in here this morning. Forgive me for saying that but your probational officer is more messed up than you are."

Sylar chuckled. "Maybe." he said. "A little. Yeah, sometimes. But I don´t blame him. I didn´t give him much reason to trust me in the past so …"

"Did you give him reason to mistrust you today?" she asked. Sylar was about to say, he didn´t hope so, when she just kept talking, asking him: "Where have you been? Did you do anything illegal?"

"No, Ma´am." he said with his most earnest smile.

Roberta looked at him estimating and then nodded, never losing her grim face. "All right." she said. "I believe you. Your friend on the other hand … can´t talk for him."

"That´s all right." Sylar said. "He´ll come around."

"Then what´s he doing up there? Writing a bad report about you?"

Again Sylar chuckled. "No, Ma´am." he said. "He´s … trying to find someone."

"Someone that´ll help you with your addiction?"

"No." Sylar denied. "No, quite the contrary. I hope that I can help this person as soon as we find him … or her."

Roberta looked at him uncertain. "I guess that´s something I shouldn´t ask you about." she assumed.

"I´d prefer it." Sylar nodded. "It would be too hard to explain."

"All right." she said, once again with this grim look on her face. Then she shrugged. "Hope you know what you´re doing, kiddo."

With that she went back to her work. Sylar watched her go, smiling confidently to himself. Oh, don´t worry, he thought. I think, I do. I think, I do.

In the corner of his eye he saw a black spot moving on the floor. It was a cockroach. Sylar smiled at the little intruder and aimed his index finger at it. The cockroach halted as if it knew it was in the crossfire. Sylar moved his thumb down and the cockroach exploded into a dozen pieces. The bug killer smiled and playfully blew the imaginary smoke away. Oh, yes, he thought. I really think I know what I´m doing.

**...**

Up in the motel room Mohinder was working, just like Sylar had said. But instead of looking for a person with an ability, he was feverishly working on the formular, he´d started to work on only yesterday. He knew it was pure insanity to think that he could finish it until this evening but he had to try. The test results looked promising enough and if there was only the slightest chance that he could really take away Sylar´s abilities, he had to try.

Even if Sylar was right and there really was someone out there who was responsible for these missing people and the destruction, he just couldn´t risk it to let Sylar near that person as long as he had his murderous gifts. He had to make sure that Sylar wouldn´t hurt anyone. Not anymore.

He finished his latest test with little hope for a good message. But when his computer showed him the results, he almost couldn´t believe it. There it was. The formular he´d been looking for for so many years. Now it was standing there right in front of him and it looked so simple. Almost too simple to be real. Even a kid could do it.

He ran another test and a third one just to be sure but the result remained the same. It really was the right formular. And the way it looked to him, it could really be the one he needed to finally take away Sylar´s abilities.

That was the greatest breakthrough he could have ever asked for. Everything he´d been working for all these years since he´d learned that a man named Sylar was killing people with abilities. The one thing he´d never been allowed to find. The one thing that had always slipped his discovery. Now he had it. But all he could think of was, how to generate this remedy fast enough and how to inject Sylar with it before he had a chance to struggle.

The second question would have to wait, he decided. First he had to generate the remedy. Fortunately he had bought some simple lab-equipment last week. It had been a special offer and he had somehow felt that the need for it would come sooner or later. Now he was glad he´d taken the precautions. It was not much he had, a burner, a few test tubes and some other equipment, but it had to do the trick. And what a trick it would be, he thought. If he really managed it that was. He had to hurry. Sylar´s shift in the diner would be over in five hours. He had to hurry.

**...**

"All right, guys, listen to this." Lassiter announced, coming back to Juliet´s desk. "I found something about our friend."

"Wait." Gus cried and jumped out of his chair. "I found something too. You won´t believe that."

"Guster, did you hear that I was in the process of saying something?" Lassiter objected.

"But he said his information is more interesting than yours." Shawn supported his friend.

"It is." Gus affirmed excited. "It´s unbelievable."

"I don´t care about how unbelievable it is." Lassiter snapped. "It´s about politeness. I came first."

"But we came second." Shawn replied as if that would beat Lassiter´s argument. It worked. The detective frowned irritated.

"Anyway." Gus used this moment of distraction. "What I found out …"

"Dammit, Guster, I said I came first." Lassiter cried.

"Guys, you´re giving me a headache." Juliet cried with her hands raised. "Could you please talk one at a time."

"I will." Henry said and joined the gathering. Shawn, Gus and Lassiter opened their mouths to object but Henry skillfully ignored them. "I found something about your guy." he said. "Looks as if he leaves a trace of destruction and missing persons cases behind, every time he´s in America. I have five cases of missing people that match the times when he visited Washington and Houston since 2008. All of them accompanied with destruction in the area where these people vanished."

"That´s the same thing I have." Gus told them excited. "But it happened in Berlin. Two missing people, in one case the apartment of the person lay in ruins. Just like the apartment of Andrea Arbogast."

"Same thing with Tokyo and Rom." Lassiter finally got his chance. "Three people vanished while he was there. One in Rom, two in Tokyo. Matching number of destructed areas."

"What is this guy?" Henry asked. "An internationally active serial killer?"

"If he is, he doesn´t know about it." Juliet said.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Henry snapped. "How can he not know about it? Is he some kind of schizo that lets his darker side do the killings for him or something?"

"The part about the dark side might be closer than you think." Juliet replied unimpressed by Henry´s sarcasm.

"Whatever." Lassiter dismissed the useless talk. "I´m calling Bennet and tell him what we have."

"Who the hell is Bennet?" Henry asked but Lassiter was already on the phone. He turned his back on the elder Spencer so he wouldn´t distract him while he talked to Noah.

"Bennet? Lassiter." he said when his call was answered. "Yes, we do and not quite less. Looks as if our friend really has some issues. I know that´s not really proof that he´s a Special but …"

"Oh, I guess we can be pretty sure that he´s a Special." Bennet interrupted him calmly.

"What?" Lassiter asked. "How do you know?"

On the other end of the city, Noah Bennet took his eyes off the half destroyed building that once had been his apartment-house and faced the small Japanese man standing next to him. Everywhere on the street people were staring at the same building. In the distance he could already hear the horns of the rescue forces approach.

"Because I just had the pleasure to see his ability in action." he told Lassiter.


	9. Future Briefing

**Future Briefing**

It was going straight to three p.m. when Noah Bennet reached his apartment. He´d come here right after leaving the police station and he intended to go back there right away, as soon as he had the information he´d come for. He switched on his computer and dialed Lauren´s number simultaneously. For some reason he didn´t get a connection though. When he looked at his display he found that there was no service. Strange. Usually he had no problem using his cell phone in this house. Maybe there were some interferences that blocked the signal he mused. He´d try again later.

The computer was ready by now and Noah started to search his system for the right files. He didn´t need too long to find the file of the long deceased Mr. Stephen Canfield. A very special individual, with the ability to create vortexes. Noah had been there when some of these things had appeared, only by a single movement of that man´s hand. It had been terrifying.

This Mr. Wieland said that he had no idea about his ability – if he had one but that seemed out of the question in Noah´s opinion – so there was no proof that the two things would be related. But the similarity was striking. The least he could do was to find out everything he could about Mr. Canfield´s ability and how they could face it. Maybe there was even a connection between the two men. Some sort of a relation maybe, but that seemed too unlikely to be even worth hoping for. Somehow that seemed too simple. But that was something Noah wanted Lauren to check out for him. She had the right connections for this. He checked his display again and there was still no service.

Outside of his apartment in the staircase, a sudden noise came up and made him flinch. The fire alarm had started.

Startled, he turned around and looked at his door. What was that supposed to mean? The coincidence in this made his inner alarm go off as well. Eyes never leaving the door, his hand wandered under the table and found the gun he´d hidden there. Slowly he approached the door, ready for whatever might happen.

Before he reached the door though, a movement in his back made him swirl around. He aimed his gun at the attacker … and froze when he faced a very familiar and very unexpected face.

"Don´t shoot." Hiro Nakamura cried, his hands in the air. "I´m here to save your life."

"Hiro." Noah lowered his gun. "Are you responsible for that alarm?"

"Yes." the small Japanese said. "Everybody must leave this house. It will be destroyed very soon."

"Destroyed?" Noah repeated awake. "How soon?"

At this Hiro hesitated startled, as if he just realized that he was missing this one specific piece of information.

"I don´t know." he admitted. "Very." He shook his head. "There´s no time to lose. We must get out now."

"Wait." Noah objected when Hiro tried to drag him out of the door. "I have important files in here that I have to save."

"But … Mr. Bennet." Hiro cried, only this time Noah didn´t listen. He hurried back to his desk and started to collect his computer and files.

Hiro stood by the already open door and watched desperately how Bennet collected his stuff. He bobbed nervously on his place. Outside people passed by on their way out of the house. A young woman, who held her baby in one arm and supported an elder woman with the other, reached her limit when the three of them came to the stairs. The old woman seemed unable to manage the stairs on her own but the baby kept the younger woman too busy to successfully help her down. Other people were just passing them, obviously expecting them to handle the way on their own. By now the baby was crying very loud and his mother looked as if she wanted to cry too. Hiro threw one last glance at Bennet.

"Please, Mr. Bennet." he cried. "Hurry. We don´t have much time."

With that he ran out and took the hand of the old woman out of the hand of the over-challenged young mother. When they finally reached the first floor and the front door, a big crowd of people had gathered before the building. Hiro was very relieved to see that. It meant that everybody had gotten out in time. Everybody but Noah Bennet that was. The man Hiro had actually come here for.

He looked back to the door and felt the urge to run back inside. But then finally, Company man came out, carrying a box filled with files and a laptop under his arm. He crossed the street, and put the box on the roof of a car.

"So now what?" he asked Hiro. "Would you mind telling me what all this is about?"

"I just come from the future." Hiro told him, still out of breath. "This house will be destroyed by a very dark force today."

Noah frowned. "A dark force?" he repeated.

Hiro only nodded.

Behind them the people that crowded the street, started to talk to each other, confused and suspicious.

"There´s no smoke." someone noticed.

"Why did the alarm go off?" another one asked.

"It´s not burning?"

"I have a roast in the oven."

"What is all this? A joke?"

"Can we go back in?" a young girl whined obviously fed up with the whole thing.

"Yeah." a guy agreed with her, not less pissed than she was. "I won´t stand around here all day."

Some of the people were already in the process of walking back to the house. Hiro gasped and jumped forward to block their way.

"No!" he cried and raised both hands to stop them. "No one must go back in there. This house will fall apart very soon."

"What?" people gasped, looking at each other in shock.

"How do you know that?" the guy from before asked. "Are you an architect?"

Hiro blinked, completely startled by that question. "No." he said.

"Then how do you know?" the pissed guy demanded to know and when Hiro didn´t know an answer at once, he decided. "I´ll go back in. There isn´t even a firefighter around."

Some of the people seemed to agree with him.

"No." Hiro cried desperately. "You mustn´t."

Noah stepped to his side. He had seen enough by now. He blocked the way of Mr. I´m pissed. This was the one he had to stop, if he wanted to stop the whole crowd.

"He´s an engineer and constructor." he told him with such a straight face that Mr. I´m pissed could never ever be sure if it was a lie. "Believe me." Noah said, before he could even question it and addressed the whole crowd. "It´s better you listen to him. All right, I know it´s unpleasant to stand out here while your favorite TV show is on but in the end you will be more than glad that …"

In this moment a strange sound seemed to come from somewhere inside the house. Everybody looked up at the facade, searching the source of that noise. It had sounded like a rumbling stomach. But a very big stomach. All the sudden the street seemed to be very quiet, as if the people that lived in that house with the empty stomach were holding their breath, to listen for the next sound their building would make.

No one said a word, as if afraid to disturb that silence. But in the end they didn´t need to listen so carefully. What followed next was not to miss. From one moment to the other the front wall got sucked in, as if someone had activated a very big vacuum cleaner behind it. People screamed but only for a moment.

Hiro stared at the hole in the house as baffled as everybody else.

"See?" he said.

Another rumbling sound came up and the people on the street backed up, to the farthest point of the street. And this was a good thing because with most of the carrying front wall gone, half of the building broke down. Rocks landed in the street, carrying tracks of dust clouds behind. Cars got crashed, glass broke and metal screamed.

"Oh, shit, not my car." Bennet heard Mr. I´m pissed cry in a whining and very pitiful tone.

Other people were screaming as well, backing away from those stones that were still raining down into their street as if it were the end of the world. In the end they all stood gathered together like a bunch of scared rabbits that had been fled into a corner. If it wouldn´t have been so terrifying, it would have looked almost funny.

When the dust was all that was left of the whole incident, the street that once had been a normal street, looked as if a bomb had been dropped on it. In that silence that seemed to be the companion of that dust cloud, Noah´s cell phone started to ring. The only sound in this after apocalyptic place as it seemed.

People looked at him for a moment. But as fast as he´d gained their attention, he was dismissed again. The destroyed building and the already approaching horns in the distance, were much more interesting.

Noah answered the call.

"Bennet? Lassiter." the eager voice of the detective was in his ear.

"You´ve got something?" Noah asked, totally working on autopilot.

"Yes, we do and not quite less." was the answer. "Looks as if our friend really has some issues. I know that´s not really proof that he´s a Special but …"

"Oh, I guess we can be pretty sure that he´s a Special." Bennet interrupted him calmly.

"What?" Lassiter asked. "How do you know?"

Noah finally took his eyes off the half destroyed building that once had been his apartment-house and faced Hiro Nakamura again. The small Japanese man looked at him with a face that somehow managed it to look tired and excited the same time.

"Because I just had the pleasure to see his ability in action." Noah told Lassiter. Before his police friend could overcome the shock of this reveal, Noah said: "I think we should meet somewhere. There is a story that I believe you should hear too."

"What story?" Lassiter asked.

"Not on the phone." Noah insisted. "And not at the station. This could take some time."

There was a brief silence on the other end and then Lassiter told him: "We can meet at Henry Spencer´s place. You know where that is?"

"Yes, I do." Noah said. "I´ll be there. Oh, and … bring our friend Wieland. That concerns him too."

Before Lassiter could ask him why, he just hung up. He would explain everything later.

**...**

Frank Wieland sat in his holding cell, his elbows on his knees his chin buried in his hands and his thoughts somewhere in another sphere. What would happen now? Would they charge him with murder for all these missing people? Or would they put him in a nuthouse for having severe delusions? By now he wasn´t so sure about it himself.

When he´d thought all of this over, after Doris had mentioned the coincidence in the time of his arrival and the start of these events, it had seemed to make sense. All the sudden memories had started to come back to him. News about vandalisms and sometimes about missing people, heard while he was getting ready to leave his hotel room to go to a meeting. Things he´d noticed on the edge of his perception, things he´d considered to be the usual newscast of the respective country he´d been visiting. Common crimes that happened everywhere and all the time. But now it seemed as if he´d made a terrible mistake by thinking that.

What if it was true? What if it was not random at all? Was that possible? Could it really be that he had caused all this without even knowing, without even noticing it? Was that possible? Was he cursed in some way? He was a scientist. He didn´t believe in things like that. But what this guy had said before, this strange man with the glasses that had claimed to work with certain people …

People like him? Attached to the dark? Yes, he had felt a strong fascination about the darkness all his life. But that was nothing that had ever effected his life or had stopped him from getting in absolutely normal contact with other people. He was not a weirdo, as the Americans called it. He was not eccentric – at least not much more than his other colleagues – and he was sure as hell not insane. Or was he? That was the part he wasn´t so sure about anymore.

At his sister´s home, when all these memories had flooded his mind unasked, it had seemed the only possible solution. That it had been him all the time that had caused these destructions and the missing people all around the globe. How else could one explain that these things always happened when he happened to visit another country? And if that was true then he had to be responsible for the missing people that had started to vanish here in Santa Barbara only a few days after he´d arrived here. Logical. Right? Or so he´d thought. But somehow, now sitting here in this cell, after these detectives had looked at him as if he were crazy and after the visit of this strange guy with the glasses, he wasn´t so sure anymore. Maybe he´d overreacted after all. The idea of him dragging black holes behind was insane. How did he ever get this idea? It was outrageous. Nuts. He was a scientist, for god´s sake.

The door was opened and dragged him out of his thoughts. He flinched and when he looked up, the officer was already in the process of unlocking his cell.

"What is it?" he asked the grim looking detective. "Where do you bring me?"

"Nowhere." the detective – Lassiter his name was, Frank believed to remember – answered. "You´re free to go."

"What?" Frank jumped up. "But …"

"Please follow me." was all the detective said and led the way.

Frank had no choice but to follow him, totally dumbstruck over this sudden change in his situation. What was that supposed to mean? First they locked him up without any explanation what was going on – only that they would get back to him as soon as they checked his story, as they called it – and now they just let him go? It almost felt as if they threw him out.

"What did you find out?" he asked Lassiter when they reached the desk sergeant. "What´s going to happen to me now?"

"I told you. You´re free to go." Lassiter repeated.

"Just like this? You said you wanted to check my story."

"We did. And there´s nothing we could charge you with. You got lucky."

"But …"

"Pal." Lassiter talked over him. "If it would be my decision, I would find a reason to lock you up for it. But fortunately for you, it isn´t my decision. So you should just leave this station and stop wasting our time, before I change my mind. Sign the papers and leave."

For a moment Frank was just baffled. But the stern eyes of the cop before him were unmistakable and so he just signed the papers and made his way over to the door. This was the biggest waste of time he´d ever experienced. He´d come here to help and now … they just threw him out with a kick in the butt. Idiots.

On his way to the door he passed a bench in the hall. Two guys were standing there, seemingly also in the process of leaving. The white guy looked at him casually and smiled politely.

"Hey." he greeted him. "They let you out, huh. Grats."

"Thanks." Frank replied uncertain.

"Yeah, they threw us out just a minute ago too." the guy said. "Need the beds I guess."

"You were in holding?" Frank asked with a frown. "Do they have more than one place with cells in here?"

"Yeah, over there at the end of that hall." the guy told him with an expression of disgust on his face. "Where were you?"

"In the cellar."

"Oh. Pretty cold down there, huh."

"Not really." Frank was not sure where this talk was supposed to go.

"Why were you in?" the guy asked him now.

"I came on my own." Frank told him, still hesitant.

"No way." the guy grinned. "What did you do?"

"I´m not sure. Nothing as it seems. I don´t know." Frank sighed.

"Sounds confusing." the guy commented.

"How can you not know?" his friend spoke up for the first time. He looked at Frank with a frown.

Frank opened his mouth for an explanation but then he just smiled and shook his head. "It´s nothing." he said. "I guess I drank too much … or dreamed or … hallucinated, I don´t know."

"Wow, wow, wait." white guy cried. "That sounds pretty serious. Anything we could help you with?"

"Why should you guys want to help me?" Frank asked, now getting wary.

"Why not?" his new friend shrugged. "We have at least one battle in common. Detective Grumpy over there. Whoever survives him has my respect."

Frank looked back at the bullpen, where the head detective was standing by his desk. "He arrested you too?" he asked.

"He tried. But failed." A proud grin appeared on the guys face.

Frank looked at him carefully. He had learned that people who thought themselves smarter than the police used to have one or two skeletons in the closet. "What did you do?" he asked therefor.

"I only tried to help." was the answer. "Stumbled upon some information that could help to solve a case and wanted to share them. Detective Dipstick there thought I committed the crime myself and wanted to arrest me. Too good information."

"Where did you get them from?" Frank asked, trying to get him with the question.

"Please, don´t laugh when I say that." the guy said, not the least intimidated. "I´m a psychic."

"A … Psychic." Frank repeated slowly.

"I can feel that you´re a doubter." was the immediate reply.

"That wasn´t too hard to guess." Frank said with a chuckle.

"Wow, wait I´m getting some more." the so called psychic insisted and raised his hand to his temple, a concentrated expression on his face as if he was listening for something. "You´re not only doubting." he said still listening. "You are a scientist of some sort, aren´t you?"

How the hell …? Frank was startled but far from admitting that. "Not bad." he said. "But shouldn´t you have to touch me to get anything? Like in Dead Zone?"

The other man smiled mildly at him. "This gift works on his own terms." he said. "Hollywood likes to tune it with special effects and recognizable gestures to impress the audience. But I can tell you from experience that it sometimes is enough to be near a person to know something about him or her. Of course it depends on the person. But in your case I can feel a very strong emission."

Frank smiled again. "I´m sure you do. Well, thanks again for the kind offer to help, but I guess I´ll head home now."

The so called psychic nodded as if to say, suit yourself and Frank was already in the process of passing him and his friend. He had barely taken two steps when the young man suddenly grunted as if in pain.

"Oh." he cried surprised. "Oh, that was strong. I´m sorry but …" he looked at Frank with something like fear. "I hope I won´t scare you with this but I feel inclined to let you know." he said. "I see … a shadow … hanging over you. That´s really weird. It´s as if this … darkness … would somehow follow after you. That´s really weird, don´t you think?" he asked turning to his friend, who seemed a little scared.

This time Frank really hesitated. Was this guy for real? "Darkness?" he repeated uncertain.

"I … I didn´t want to scare you." was the apologetic answer.

Maybe it was the fact that it had been an apology and not a try to convince him even more about this … episode. But Frank suddenly found himself taking a step towards the psychic instead for the door.

"Please, tell me the truth." he said. "No shenanigans. Can you really … see such things? Because I happen to really have a problem that falls under that stuff and it starts to really freak me out."

"Believe me." the psychic shook his head. "Sometimes it freaks me out as well."

"Not just him." his friend agreed.

Frank struggled with himself. His inner scientist screamed for him not to, but the simple guy he was, just had to ask someone for help. The scientist couldn´t answer his questions. Now the simple guy had to take over and find another source for an explanation. He took his decision.

"I don´t know what´s happening to me." he told the psychic and his friend. "I came here to find the answer but no one listens to me or seems to even want to. I don´t know what to do about it. I´m afraid I´m going crazy."

"I don´t think that you go crazy, Mr …"

"Oh ehm. Wieland. Frank Wieland." Frank introduced himself.

"My name is Shawn Spencer." the psychic shook his hand. "And this is my friend and partner Bud R. Flyeffect."

"My pleasure." Frank said, feeling more relieved that they were ready to listen to him than he should.

"I suggest we talk about your problem somewhere else." Shawn Spencer the psychic said in a serious tone. "The police station is not quite the best place for that."

"I would agree with that." Frank said and threw a glance back to the detectives.

"Our car is parked outside." Bud R. Flyeffect (what a strange name) said. "Can we give you a ride home? Maybe it talks easier over a cup of coffee."

"Good idea." Frank agreed. "I could need one."

"Then let´s go, Mr. Wieland."

"Please. Everybody who´s about to hear the story that I have to tell, can go right ahead and call me Frank."

The two of them seemed absolutely okay with that.

"By the way, Frank." Shawn Spencer asked him on their way out. "You have an accent of some sort …"

"Oh, yeah." Frank chuckled. "I´m from Switzerland."

"Seriously? I always thought you guys would talk in such a funny way. You know … like …"

"Yes, that´s true." Frank agreed before Shawn could try to imitate what he thought as a Swizz accent. "Most of us do. But … Well, I travel a lot and I have that tendency to take on the dialect … or accent of the people I´m around. And I work with a very multicultural team at home so I guess the normal Swizz accent is kinda lost on me."

"It´s impressive." Bud said. "You barely have an accent at all."

"Thanks." Frank felt flattered but that feeling was drowned very quickly when he recalled the situation he was in. They reached a small blue car and Frank gratefully climbed into the backseat. After they had left the station behind, Shawn the psychic turned around and looked at him.

"All right Frank." he said. "Now fire ahead."

"What right now?" Frank asked startled. "In the car?"

"Why not? Don´t worry, Bud never breaks the speed limit so if he crashes because of what you say, it will be at low speed. No severe injuries."

Frank smiled, grateful for the easy way this guy had. It made it easier for him to start talking. After he´d managed it to overcome his first reluctance, it was actually very easy to tell them his story. They didn´t cry Idiot at him and they also didn´t seem too disturbed about it either. Maybe they really had experience with supernatural stuff like that he mused and couldn´t believe that he really considered something like that. He was a scientist for god´s sake.

"Wow." Shawn said when he was finished. "That sounds pretty scary."

"It is pretty scary." Frank agreed. "I can´t tell you how terrified I am." He laughed. "And it is me who does all these things. If it is real that is."

"Well, that is the big question, now is it?"

Frank nodded. What else could he say to that? It was the absolute truth. He threw a look out of the window. Nothing more than a gesture of taking a mental breath. But instead of releasing him it caused another frown. "Ehm, I believe this is the wrong street." he mentioned. "My sister lives farther north from here."

"We stop at my dad´s place first." Shawn explained. "Don´t worry, it won´t take long. Just a quick thing we have to do."

Something in Frank started to tingle. Some sort of an inner alarm he would have called it, if he would be used to be in situations like that. It was similar to the bad feeling he sometimes got before an experiment, when he knew that something would go wrong even before it started. Usually he was right about that in the end. But this was an entirely different situation. And he really couldn´t think of any reason these two guys should have to kidnap him. No matter what Doris said, he still believed that not everybody had to be a criminal.

So he sat back and when they stopped at a house near the beach, he got out of the car and followed them to the front door in good faith. The house looked similar to that of his sister. Surely it wasn´t the home of a mass murderer. Shawn Spencer knocked and a moment later an older man opened.

"It´s about time." he said and opened the door for them to get in. Frank got only a brief glance from him and seemed dismissed. Obviously he considered him to be a friend of his son. Frank followed them behind into the living room. When he saw the people who had obviously been waiting for them, two of them being the detectives who had questioned him earlier, he stopped dead in his tracks.

"What is this?" he demanded to know.

"Sorry, dude." Shawn said. "But we had to get you here smoothly."

"You said you wanted to help me." Frank cried.

"And we do." Bud assured him. "That´s why we brought you here."

"Please, Mr. Wieland." the blond detective addressed him gently. "You came to our station to find help, to find out what´s going on with you. And we want to help you find that out. Only we couldn´t do that at the station, you see."

Frank looked at her estimating. There was something earnest about her that made him take the chance one last time.

"Then tell me what´s going on." he demanded, determined that if they wouldn´t convince him with their answer, he would just turn around and leave.

The young woman turned around to look at the man with the horn rimmed glasses who´d questioned Frank earlier. She looked at him as if she was asking for help with this situation.

"Well, the truth is." Mr. I work with people like you said. "We don´t know that ourselves, yet."

Frank was about to tell them all that he would leave now, but he got no chance to do so. "Mr. Wieland, may I introduce you to Mr. Hiro Nakamura?" Mr. I work with people like you said and turned halfway to the last member of this gathering. A small Japanese man with a pair of spectacles on his nose. Mr. Hiro Nakamura made a polite bow before him and Frank mirrored it without thinking about it. He was too startled to even notice it.

Bennet nodded approvingly at the finished introduction.

"Hiro has something he wants to tell us." he said.


	10. Hiro In The Future

**Hiro in the Future**

A day after Noah Bennet´s apartment house met its unfortunate fate in Santa Barbara, on the other side of the world, two men were standing on a roof and looked over the movement area of the Tokyo airport. The sun was shining in a sky that was only partly speckled with small white clouds. The port itself was crowded with people who were on their way to enter the planes. But there was only one person amongst all of them that was of interest for these two guys, currently standing on that roof. A very special person.

"I can see her." Hiro told his friend, while looking through the binoculars. "She´r right there."

"Are you sure it´s her?" Ando asked uncertain.

"Of course I am. She´s right there. She looks exactly like on the picture."

He gave Ando the binoculars so he could see for himself. His friend had to search the woman but then he found her and wagged his head. "All right." he admitted. "She does look like her."

"Prepare yourself." Hiro said and hurried to get the binoculars back. "Our client is on his way."

Ando followed his gaze and spotted the young man, who was now running past the line of passengers to get to his girlfriend, soon to be fiance. He reached the woman Hiro had identified as the woman that had been described to them … and passed her to stop at another woman a few steps further in the line.

Ando threw Hiro a glance, one brow raised. Hiro just smirked and shrugged. "She could have been her twin sister." he said and looked through the binoculars again. A smile appeared on his face. "Seems the plan is in motion." he told Ando. "Get ready."

Ando reached out his hands, as if he was holding an invisible ball and build up the energy until he could feel it tickle in his palms. There were a few tiny red sparks dancing between his hands, but so far he didn´t dare to raise the level. He had to wait for the right moment.

"I believe he is asking her now." Hiro told him, still looking through the binoculars.

"How does she react?" Ando wanted to know, now as excited about the outcome of this admittedly ridiculous (ridiculous but cute) assignment for their dial-a-hero business.

Hiro made an uncertain sound. "She seems to be reluctant." he said.

"Of course. She got a job offer in Osaka. That´s a one in a lifetime job."

"She only took it because they had a fight." Hiro recalled, absolutely certain that the plan would work out. "You should get ready to start. Wait for my signal."

Ando tensed and prepared himself. He looked at his friend. Waiting. Hiro´s hands were clinging around the binoculars. If only Ando knew what he was seeing. But then Hiro cried: "Now! Do it!"

Ando didn´t hold it back any longer and sent the red lightnings into the sky. A big lettering appeared in the sky above them, dancing and itching but still readable. It read: "I love you, Chibiko."

Hiro watched how the people on the airport all turned to the big and unexpected lightshow and especially how the eyes of the woman in question went wide with awe when she saw what her boyfriend had prepared only to keep her from leaving. When he asked her something again, she started to cry and embraced him.

"Yataaa!" Hiro cried, jumping up and down happily.

"She said yes?" Ando asked, a big smile on his face.

"She did." Hiro affirmed still jumping. Ando couldn´t help and got swapped away by his friend´s happiness and joined him in the little victory dance. Hiro looked up at the slowly fading writing in the sky above them and frowned, a little startled. The name Ando had written there, the name of their client´s fiance Chibiko, looked a little as if he´d written Kimiko instead. He tabbed Ando on his shoulder and pointed upwards.

"Was that a typo?" he asked.

Ando just looked at him smiling and shrugged. "Just in case Kimiko should see that." he explained. "She shouldn´t think that I write love notes for other women in the sky." When Hiro gave him a face he asked: "What? It worked just fine, didn´t it?"

Hiro gave his friend a playfully reproving glance. "Aha." he made.

Not that it wasn´t amazing that Ando could do something like that with his power. Hiro never made an issue out of the difference between the two of them. All he could do was stopping time and teleport from one place to the other. If he wanted to impress someone with that, he had to do a lot of sweat producing work to accomplish a face like that of the woman down there, when she´d seen the writing in the sky. He could of course. If he wanted. But of course he would never do that. A hero had to keep his powers secret if he wanted to save the world with it. Moments like this when they could actually use their abilities to save the day for someone, were exceptions. But they were worth it.

So of course Hiro couldn´t keep up that put on mask for very long. They were both too eager to see what was going on with their client and his fiance. The two of them were already on the way back to the terminal, the people in the line applauding them for their decision. Again Hiro and Ando smiled at each other, more than pleased with what they´d accomplished.

"And once again, we made the world a little better, my friend." Hiro commented.

**...**

"I can´t tell you how thankful I am, for what you did." Mr. Masaki told them, when they were back in their secret stash, which was practically more like an oversized office to welcome clients. "Chibiko can´t wait till our wedding." he said.

"We´re very happy for you too." Ando assured the man. "You may recommend us to your friends and family if you like."

"Oh, I sure will." Mr. Masaki said with a wide smile.

"Then the only thing left to do …" Hiro said and shoved the book over to Mr. Masaki.

"Of course." Masaki said and picked up the pen. He was just about to start writing when a female voice called through the hall.

"So here you are."

The three men turned around surprised. The woman who had spoken stood in the door, her hands in her sides and her dark eyes on the two men who owned this place.

"Kimiko." Ando cried. "Sweetheart. What are you doing here?"

"I was about to ask you the same." she replied serious but her voice was a little softer now. "Weren´t you supposed to meet me in the city?"

Ando squinted as if in pain. "I´m sorry, I forgot." he said and hurried over to her.

"His girlfriend?" Masaki asked in a whisper tone.

"His wife." Hiro replied. "And my big sister."

Masaki threw him a glance that was first surprised and then amused. Hiro pointed at the book where his client was supposed to sign and Masaki went to it. On the other side of the room, Ando and Kimiko were talking quietly with each other. Hiro watched them. It still felt great to see them together. His little family.

After another minute they seemed to have come to an understanding. When they came back to them together, their arms were wrapped around each other´s waists. She had obviously forgiven her husband his forgetfulness.

Still when her eyes met Hiro´s, Kimiko looked strict. But then again, his sister always looked strict, especially when she looked at him. Hiro smiled at her. She didn´t smile back. God, how much she reminded him of their father sometimes.

"So you again held off my husband from his real duties?" she asked.

"Our real duty is to make the world a better place, sister." Hiro replied as dignified as he could.

"I see." was all she would say to that.

Hiro and Ando exchanged a glance of shared carefulness. Kimiko was about to say some more but in this moment there was a sound coming from somewhere in the back of the hall. It sounded as if something had just exploded. The four people swirled around but there was nothing. Everything looked just all right. Everything was quiet.

"What was that?" Kimiko demanded to know.

Ando lay a protective hand on her shoulder, before he walked around a bookshelf, to check this mystery. Hiro followed him. The space behind the shelf looked just fine, except for the fact that a lot of the comic books Hiro had stored there, lay around like a strong wind had blown them down.

"You really should clean up more often." Ando told his friend in a hushed tone so Kimiko wouldn´t hear them.

"But I did." Hiro said. "Just yesterday."

"What? Then how did this chaos happen?"

"I don´t know." Hiro said, honestly worried. He looked around but the nearest window was ten feet away from the book shelf and it was closed. To make sure it wasn´t just shut by a wind, Hiro went over to it and checked it. No, it was closed.

By now, Kimiko had rounded the shelf too, curious to see what was going on.

"Ando?" she asked, a little worried.

Her husband gave her a smile to ease her mind. He opened his mouth to tell her that everything was all right, that it had been just an open window and they had been scared by their own shadow. But he didn´t even get a chance to say the first word. All the sudden there was a deafening noise behind him, like thunder that rumbled, not in the sky but directly in this room. They all covered their ears and then, without any warning or transition, something very big and very dark appeared behind Ando. It looked like a perfect circle, and inside of it there was nothing but pure blackness.

An even stranger sound came up.

Fffffflopppp.

And then everything around them went flying around. Ando´s eyes went wide in surprise and then he was pulled backwards, right into this black thing.

"Ando!" Kimiko screamed.

Hiro, whose hand was still on the handle of the window, felt how this strange force was pulling on him too. He instinctively grabbed the handle tighter, and a moment later he was hanging horizontal in the air as if a hurricane was blowing in their stash. Everything else happened like through a filter. He heard his sister scream and somewhere he made out the voice of their client as well. Between dozens of flying objects he saw the form of his sister´s body, how she got sucked into that infamous thing just like his lifelong friend Ando.

Hiro shouted her name, but she was already gone. Just like Ando. Everything around him seemed to explode. His mind was screaming, in pain and denial over what was happening here. He was sure that he was crying but the wind that sucked on him was too strong to let him feel the tears.

The handle of the window started to give in and a few seconds later it just broke off, sending Hiro flying ahead at this murderous thing that had already killed his best friend and his sister. But even with the pain this knowledge brought along, even with the shock over this event that had happened so unexpectedly, Hiro somehow managed it to remember the only way he had to escape his own certain death. He squeezed his eyes shut as fast as he could and prayed intensely that he would be fast enough.

His back collided with something, painfully, and then he fell down, to the ground. The noise that had been screaming in his ears was gone, replaced by an eerie quietness. Hiro opened his eyes and looked around. He wasn´t in the hall any longer. He was outside, in a street. But the street barely looked any better than the hall after that thing had raged in it. There were cars standing around that were burned or half destroyed. Shop windows along the street were smashed and there was litter and garbage everywhere.

It wasn´t Tokyo, that much Hiro knew. This wasn´t even a street anywhere in Japan. The cars were American and so were the signs in the windows. Where was he? And what had happened here?

With shaking legs he stood up and started to walk almost on autopilot. The shock about Ando´s and Kimiko´s death was still shaking him – had this really happened? – but this new shock was almost worse. He´d thought – if one could even think in a situation that happened so fast – that this destruction would have been limited to their stash. But now it seemed as if it had happened everywhere. Since he hadn´t teleported to a certain point in the world intentionally, he had landed on a totally random place, just like always when he had to teleport quickly without time to think about his target. And the chance that he had hit the only place that was destroyed like that by pure coincidence, was rather thin. Not none existing but thin.

Had this black eye done that? What was it? It had looked like a hole in the air. Hiro halted. A black hole. Great Scott. Was that possible? Of course it was. He had seen it. And he had read at least a dozen stories in which black holes had appeared. Some of them comics, some of them science fiction novels or short stories. Of course that thing in his stash had been a black hole. But why? How?

Someone shouted behind him and he turned around, still too shocked to even be startled. He heard the sound of shattering glass. There were some guys in thick bomber jackets walking in and out of a shop, each of them carrying another electronic device. DVD-players, TVs, a computer … One of them spotted Hiro and shouted something at him that the young Japanese didn´t understand. When Hiro didn´t react at once, the guy put the monitor he´d been carrying down and headed for him in a threatening way. Hiro started to back up in fear but the shock that was still fresh in his bones, made his legs feel like led. The guy was at him in a heartbeat. Now Hiro understood what he shouted.

"What are you looking at, asshole?" he asked. "You want trouble? Huh? YOU WANT TROUBLE?"

Hiro didn´t even get a chance to say something, when the guy had already grabbed his collar and started to punch him. Fists were raining down on him, while the other culprits just went on with their loading business as if nothing happened. Whining and begging for the man to stop, Hiro tried to back up, but the hand that held his collar wouldn´t let go. Neither would the fist stop pummeling down on him. The rage this man felt for him, stood in no relation to what Hiro had done or not done. Not even teleporting away was an option for him now. He didn´t even find the time to close his eyes and concentrate. And then all the sudden the hits stopped and the man swirled around to look at something.

Hiro was still too shaken to realize what was going on until he heard the sound of a voice that shouted: "FREEZE, YOU DOUSHBAGS!"

Other voices shouted something in response and then there were shots. The hand let go of Hiro´s collar and he dropped to the ground. Somehow he managed it not to lose consciousness. Resting on his hands he watched the fight between the culprits and a group of men and women who seemed to be police. Everything seemed muffled and the whole scene appeared like a far away dream. A few of the culprits fled when they realized that they would lose. Three of them got arrested and two seemed to have died from bullets.

Someone was by Hiro´s side all the sudden and lifted him up. When he looked up, he faced a woman with brushy blond and purple hair.

"Are you all right?" she asked him, her voice as muffled as the rest of the sounds around him. Still it somehow helped him to get back to his senses.

Hiro took a breath and then asked with a voice as thin as Chinese porcelain: "What happened?"

"You were attacked." the woman told him. "But don´t worry, we arrested most of them. Are you living nearby?"

"No." Hiro cried. "I mean the city. What happened here?"

The woman frowned at him in confusion. She opened her mouth to say something but the voice of a man stopped her before she could even start.

"Detective Lassiter!" this voice called and the man in question, turned around to him. "If we hurry we can still get these bastards." the younger man told him.

The man named Lassiter nodded and turned back to the woman. "Let´s go, Karen!" he said, suspiciously eying Hiro.

She nodded and turned back to Hiro, only for a last checking glance, before she joined her partner. Hiro attempted to follow them, crying desperately that he needed to know what happened. That this was not right. That they had _saved_ the world and this was just impossible. But these strange police men were already on their way, not paying any attention to him.

Hiro could see the man, that had been addressed as Lassiter, talk to the younger man for a moment, both of them looking back at Hiro, making him hope that they´d decide to stay and help him after all. But then they just got into their cars and drove off, none of them even looking back at him.

Barely a minute after everything had started, Hiro found himself alone on the deserted street again, the sound of the engines slowly vanishing in the distance. The electronic devises the bad guys had tried to steal, lay on the street, shattered and useless and forgotten.

Far away Hiro could hear gunshots. Where by everything that was good in the world, was he?

Slowly he started to walk again. What a strange world he had landed in? Was that even his world? Maybe this black hole hadn´t been a black hole after all but a bridge of some sort. A wormhole maybe? Had he slided into another dimension? A darker version of his own world?

But no. He had teleported himself away before he´d even entered the black hole. And if he would be in another world, then Ando and Kimiko would be here as well. But they weren´t. They were nowhere. Because they were dead. Hiro was sure about that. He could feel it deep inside. His best friend since childhood and his sister, the only relative he´d left, were dead. Taken away from him in only a few seconds.

In this moment, when he finally had the time to realize the gravity of that loss, Hiro felt sadder than sad and weaker than just weak. His legs, which had shaken before, gave in for good and he dropped down to his knees and just cried. He´d lost them. The two people in the world who were the most important to him. Now he was alone. He´d always wanted to be a hero. He could teleport through space, travel through time, and still he hadn´t been able to save them. What kind of a hero was he? What was a hero any good for anyway, if he couldn´t even save the people closest to him?

A wind came up and blew coldly around him. Hiro was freezing. A newspaper rushed by and got stuck at his knee. Hiro looked down on it, through a mist of tears, but he could see clear enough to read the date that was printed there. October 21st 2015. When he saw that his heart skipped a beat. 2015? How? But then he knew how. Of course, he had had one of his accidents again. He´d jumped too quickly and too far once again and had somehow landed in the future.

The relief about that didn´t last very long though. Even if this was the future, this was still not right the way it was. Why was everything destroyed? Maybe if he could find out, he could go back in time and stop it from happening. From one moment to the other, hope was back with him. If that was the future maybe he could even save Ando and Kimiko. Maybe he could stop all this before it even started. Yes, maybe he could. He just had to.

He jumped up and started to run. At the next corner he stopped and looked around though. Where was he running to? But then he spotted something on the other side of the street in front of a closed drugstore and he knew what he had to do. He needed information about this strange and dark future in order to go back and stop it from happening. If he wanted to save the world, he needed someone to tell him what had destroyed it. So he ran over the street to the phone booth that was nothing more than a skeleton of steel with no glass left in it, and prayed that it still worked. When he heard the signal, he exhaled in relief.

The book that was attached to the booth read Santa Barbara. California? Why had he landed here from all the places in the world? But that was a question he couldn´t answer right now. He needed other answers that were more important. And the first one was the one that threatened to devastate him right from the start. Who should he call to ask him for help?

At last he dialed the first number he could think of. The number of his home office. He got no connection.

He hung up again and tried to think. He knew so many people here in America. Who should he call? Would he even be able to remember their numbers? He closed his eyes and tried his best to get the numbers out of his memory. The first one he could remember was one that seemed hopeless on its own but he dialed it anyway. It was the number of Isaac Mendez, the painter in New York that had died from Sylar´s hand somewhat around five years ago. No, now it was even eight years ago. He was in 2015.

He got a signal but no one answered. Hiro tried another number. Peter Petrelli this time. Again there was no answer. The lines were working but no one answered the call. The next number he dialed, was the one from Noah Bennet. But the result was the same. No answer. Then he tried Matt Parkman. No answer. Only this unnerving repeating of the signal that told him that the phone on the other end was ringing.

No answer.

No answer.

No answer.

He tried all the numbers of people he could remember. When he had only one number left, his hope to reach anyone, was almost gone completely. Especially since this last number was only a cell phone number that had been current five, no eight years ago. Surely he would have gotten another one over the years or the phone that number belonged to had been destroyed and never replaced. Anyway, the chance that he would reach him after he hadn´t reached anyone else, were thinner than thin. Still he had to try. He mustn´t give up. A hero never gave up.

He dialed the number and was positively surprised that the connection was working. But when he didn´t get any answer here either, his last hope seemed destroyed too. After the fifth ring his heart was broken with hopelessness. Just as he attempted to hang up, a clicking sound was in his ear.

"Who´s this?" an accented voice asked warily.

"Dr. Suresh?" Hiro cried, almost unable to believe that he finally had someone on the phone. "It´s me. Hiro Nakamura."

The line was quiet for a moment. "Hiro?" Suresh sounded almost shocked. "Where are you?"

"I´m so glad I reached you." Hiro cried, holding the handset with both hands. "Everything is wrong. No one answers the phone. I traveled to the future by accident. I´m in America. Ehm … in California. Santa Barbara. Please, you must help me."

There was another brief pause. "I´m in Santa Barbara too." Suresh then told him.

Hiro halted. "You are?" but then he decided that he couldn´t afford to question this lucky coincidence. "Please, can you tell me what happened?" he begged. "I don´t understand."

"We should meet." Suresh said. "Is this line secure?"

Hiro blinked. "I think so." he said, even though he had no idea if the line was secure or why this was important to the doctor. Suresh seemed to believe him though and named an address for him. His voice had changed since the beginning of their talk. When he´d answered the call he´d sounded careful and almost paranoid. Now he was excited and hopeful, Hiro could tell from the way he talked. He promised the geneticist to come to him right away and hung up.

It wasn´t easy to find the way. He was in a city he didn´t know after all and asking someone for the way was impossible, since people didn´t stay to talk to him. They either walked faster when he approached them or they ran away at once. The ones that didn´t run, didn´t look trustworthy enough to ask in the first place. So he had to find his way all on his own. But thanks god he had a good orienting sense and an hour or so later, he´d found the right street. Only that it didn´t look very friendly there. And the sounds he heard weren´t inspiring confidence either.

There were crashing sounds and then he heard shots again. People were shouting and since he remembered his first encounter with people that shouted like that very well, Hiro hid behind a garbage can. He saw three guys leaving a house and got into a car. Each of them was carrying a gun.

After they were gone, Hiro got out of his hiding place and went on. He looked around to find the right place Dr. Suresh had named him. When he was certain that he´d found it, he was up for the next shock. That was the door the bad guys had just come out of.

"Oh, no." he breathed and hurried in.

It was a hall he found himself in. Like a small storehouse. There were tables and shelves everywhere. Hiro saw a computer and a lot of instruments he didn´t know. There were also a few boards with pictures and newspaper articles and other stuff pinned to them. But all this became minor when Hiro heard a groaning sound, from behind one of the shelves. He immediately hurried around it and when he saw who lay there on the ground, bleeding from at least six gunshot wounds, his heart almost stopped in fear and shock.

"Dr. Suresh." he cried and went down to his knees next to the wounded man. "No. Dr. Suresh! Dr. Suresh!"

"Hiro." the scientist´s eyes fluttered open. "You must take it back." he slurred, half unconscious already. There was blood trickling out of his mouth. He coughed. "We all … made a terrible mistake …" he breathed in heavily. "Creating that formular … To inject him … He would´ve understood it. Could´ve stopped …" He started to cough again.

"I bring you to a hospital." Hiro told Suresh, his voice shivering.

"No time." was all the response he got. "I´m dying. Go … find Shawn Spencer. He can tell you. He knows what happened."

"Shawn Spencer." Hiro repeated, still too frightened to really compute what was happening. This just couldn´t be real. It mustn´t.

"Go back." Suresh said again, his voice getting thin now. "Save … our fut..." His head fell back and then he was dead. From one moment to the other he was just dead. Hiro sat there and couldn´t believe it.

His head was spinning and his heart racing. Dr. Suresh had been his last hope to get the answers that he needed. What should he do now? How could he save the world if the last person he´d hoped for was dead? He hadn´t even had the time to ask him anything.

But then Hiro´s head gave him the answer. Of course, Dr. Suresh had told him what to do. He´d only forgotten it, because of the shock. He´d had to suffer a lot of shocks today. But now he knew what to do next. He had to find Shawn Spencer.


	11. Three Years Gone

**Three Years Gone**

He was wandering around for hours before he finally found the Spencer house. Fortunately he´d found the address in the telephone book. There had been two Spencers listed but the first place, he´d checked out, had been an abandoned apartment that looked as if no one had been in there for at least a year or even longer. So Hiro had decided to try the second address, the one that was near the beach.

The air had gotten colder while he was walking and Hiro started to freeze. Funny. He´d always believed California to be a warm country. And now it even started to snow. Okay, maybe snow was too much to say but it was sleet at least and Hiro was only wearing a thin shirt. When he finally found the house he had been looking for, he felt tired and depressed. And seeing the house itself didn´t help to improve that feeling. Half of it had been destroyed by some force. The roof was pushed in and no one had taken the time or the care to do anything about it. It looked like a ruin. Hiro doubted that this was the right place. Who would live in a house like that?

He was already in the process of turning around, even though he had no idea where else to look for this Shawn Spencer, now that the two addresses had turned out to be wrong. His depression was sinking down to a point of desperation. But then he spotted a motorcycle parked in the garden of this house. It looked good, not as if it was standing here unused and forgotten. There was a little steam rising from it, so it had to be warm. The owner had probably just come home some little time ago.

Hiro´s heart sped up again but he allowed himself only a little hope. It could be anyone elses bike. It didn´t have to be Shawn Spencer´s. But of course he had to check. So he approached the house, to knock on the door, hoping that whoever lived here would be friendly.

He´d barely crossed half of the way to the veranda when the door swung open and a man stood there, aiming a gun at him.

"That´s close enough." he called out to him.

Hiro jumped and raised his hands.

"Don´t shoot!" he cried. "I´m not a bad guy."

The man looked him up and down. He was wearing a coat and his face was looking wasted, as if he had cried recently. Somehow Hiro believed that this man was crying a lot. His eyes looked tired. Not just tired like one was tired after a long day, but tired in a way that came from the inside, from the soul. His hair was cut so short that it almost looked like he had shaved his skull. All in all the man looked very dangerous. But so far he hadn´t shot Hiro, so the young Japanese allowed himself to hope.

"Are you Shawn Spencer?" he asked him now, his hands still in the air.

"Who wants to know that?" the man asked back.

"My name is Hiro Nakamura." Hiro introduced himself, taking the answer of the man as a none spoken yes. "Dr. Suresh sent me to you." he told him.

"Suresh?" the man Hiro assumed to be Shawn Spencer repeated. "Where is he?"

"He´s dead." Hiro felt the sadness in his heart again. Suresh had been the third person he cared about that he´d seen die within a few hours, without being able to save him. "I found him dying after a bunch of bad people attacked him." he told Shawn Spencer what had happened.

Shawn narrowed his eyes. The only thing he would say to that was: "Happens."

Hiro was startled. In this world people didn´t seem to care very much about the life of another person. Or maybe it was the character of this man? Could he be that mean that he really didn´t care? Hiro wasn´t sure.

"Why did he send you to me?" Shawn Spencer wanted to know.

"He said you might be able to tell me what happened to the future." Hiro told him.

Shawn Spencer only chuckled, not in an amused way. "You´re some funny guy." he said. "Look around. There is no future."

Hiro felt the desperation again. "Why?" was all he knew to ask.

Shawn Spencer kept aiming at him for one more minute and then he obviously decided that Hiro was no enemy and lowered his gun. Hiro lowered his arms. He looked at the other man with pleading eyes, waiting for the answers that he had come for. Shawn chuckled again and shook his head as if he didn´t know what to do with this funny guy that had appeared on his doorstep.

"You ever heard the name Sylar?" he asked all the sudden.

Hiro´s eyes went wide when he heard that. "Sylar?" he cried. "Yes. I know him. He´s a bad guy. A villain."

Shawn Spencer nodded, obviously positively surprised.

"What did he do?" Hiro asked.

After another moment of looking at him, Shawn Spencer turned halfway around. "Come on in." he said. "It´s getting cold out here."

Hiro followed him inside, grateful that he was getting out of this cold weather. It had stopped sleeting but his hair was wet and so were his clothes. He felt as if the wetness was also in his bones. When he entered the sitting room, which was warm, despite its bad shape, he started to shiver even more. But the heat of the fire made it better very quickly. Hiro held out his hands to warm them on it. When he looked up he saw three pictures that were lined up on the chimney.

"Oh." he cried with a smile. "Your family?"

"Yes." Shawn Spencer said, not a bit more friendly than before. He looked at the pictures for a moment. "My wife, my best friend and my father." he introduced the three people. "They are not here."

"Where are they?" Hiro asked. But when Shawn Spencer looked at him again, he already knew the answer. The more surprised he was when the answer Shawn actually spoke, was: "They´re out. You won´t meet them today."

Hiro was confused. According to the man´s gaze he´d immediately gotten the impression – and a very strong one that was – that these people were dead. He still felt that they were. But he said that they were just out for the moment. Why would he say that if he knew it wasn´t true? Hiro was confused. This man was very strange indeed.

"Please." he decided to come back to the real reason of his visit. "You must tell me about Sylar. What did he do to make all this happen?"

Shawn Spencer looked at him for a moment. "Would you mind telling me who you are first?" he demanded.

"Oh. Of course. I´m Hiro Nakamura from Tokyo. Japan."

"I know where Tokyo is." Shawn Spencer replied, rather pissed and Hiro got a fright from his glare. "Why did Suresh send you to me?" Shawn Spencer demanded to know.

"As I said. He said, you could tell me what happened to the future."

"Why do you keep saying future?"

"I´m from your past. I traveled here by accident."

The face Shawn Spencer gave him was a blank one. "From the past." he repeated. "You´re kidding, right?"

"No. You know who Sylar is. What he can do? I´m like him. Special. I´m the master of time and space."

Shawn Spencer started to laugh and startled Hiro.

"It´s true." the time traveler insisted. "I was at home in Tokyo a few hours ago ... with my friend and sister … when something happened. Something appeared in our stash. I believe it was a black hole. It swallowed Ando and Kimiko." he held Shawn Spencer´s gaze bravely. "I lost my family too." he told him empathizing.

Shawn Spencer didn´t seem to react.

"It almost swallowed me too." Hiro went on. "But I teleported away. Here. When I looked again, three years were gone. I didn´t mean to come here. But I think maybe it was supposed to happen. So I could see what will happen and go back to stop it."

Shawn Spencer regarded him with an estimating gaze. "You really believe that, don´t you?" he asked.

"Yes." Hiro said desperately. "Please. Will you tell me what happened? So I can stop it. Your family could still live. I can save them."

The neutral face of Shawn Spencer went dark again. "You should better not talk like that." he advised Hiro. "My patience has its limits."

"I´m sorry. But I really think that I can change the past if you only tell me what happened."

"Yeah, yeah, I got it." Shawn Spencer assured him. He thought it over for a moment, his eyes fixed on the picture of his wife. When he looked at Hiro again, the expression in his eyes had changed. "You were at Dr. Suresh´s place?" he asked him."

"Yes."

Shawn Spencer lowered his eyes in deep thought. "Maybe I can help you." he said. „Tell me one thing. Were there boards in that place? And a computer?"

"Yes!" Hiro cried excited. "It looked all very strange."

Shawn Spencer nodded. "I guess so. Listen. I can tell you what you need to know. But there are certain things in this story that you can´t understand without seeing it. Suresh had pictures. Articles. All kind of things, he´d collected over the years … since all this started. If I could show you that …"

"Of course." Hiro cried, his hope rising in his heart.

"Then bring me there." Shawn Spencer said. "And then I´ll tell you what you want to know."

**...**

They rode Shawn Spencer´s motorcycle to reach the place. Hiro sat behind him, clinging to him with rising fear, when the man drove through the streets as if he tried to win a race against invisible

others. In some of the turns they took, the bike leaned sideways that strong that Hiro´s ear almost scratched the pavement. When they finally stopped, it was like a miracle that they were still in one piece.

"Let go of me." Shawn Spencer demanded when Hiro was unable to move. "We´re there."

With some effort Hiro managed it to open his hands and let go of this mad man. By now he was sure that Shawn Spencer was crazy. Not just a little. When someone drove a bike in such a way, he was pretty much indifferent about the question if he lived or died.

"That the place?" he asked him now.

"Yes." Hiro said and followed Shawn Spencer inside on shaking legs. When his eyes fell on the form of the dead Dr. Suresh, he sighed heavily. He´d covered him with a blanket but the one hand that looked out, was like a ghost that came back to haunt you. He´d hoped that he wouldn´t have to come back here. But of course Shawn Spencer was right. The answers he was looking for had to be here if nowhere else.

"You already had a look around here?" Shawn Spencer asked him after he´d dismissed the covered body rather quickly.

"No." Hiro said. "I was afraid the bad guys could come back."

Shawn Spencer nodded. "Maybe you should look around now." he suggested and walked over to the computer. "It could be interesting what you´ll find here." he said and switched on the computer. "I´ll take care of this in the meantime."

Hiro nodded and started to walk around. The boards he´d noticed before were a collection of pictures and newspaper articles. After a while Hiro recognized the system behind all this and found the board that showed the events of the year 2012. When all this had begun. There were articles that talked about a case of missing people the Santa Barbara police had been investigating. The name Shawn Spencer was mentioned in one of them. Hiro bowed forward to read the article. Local Psychic? He looked at Shawn Spencer, who sat behind Suresh´s computer rather concentrated.

"You are Special too?" he asked and startled the man out of his working.

"What?" he asked confused.

"You are a psychic." Hiro pointed at the article. Shawn Spencer understood and snorted.

"You shouldn´t believe everything you read in the papers." was all he said. With that he went back to what he did on the computer. Whatever it was, he did there.

Hiro was confused. He went back to inspecting the board. There was another article with a picture of a destroyed apartment house. It was the only article that had a date above the headline. It read October 22nd 2012. The headline itself read: House collapse kills fifteen people. On the picture the rescuers were just in the process of dragging one of those fifteen victims out of the ruins. The face of the man was dented and bloody but Hiro recognized him immediately.

"Noah Bennet!" he cried. "Oh, no."

"Bennet is dead." Shawn Spencer told him from behind Suresh´s computer, his voice pretty indifferent.

"What happened?" Hiro asked. "Please. You must tell me."

Shawn Spencer nodded at him with patient eyes. He went back to the computer one last time and then turned to face Hiro. He obviously was done with whatever he´d done.

"It was Sylar." he finally started to tell him. Still he sounded strange somehow. As if that what he had to tell didn´t really matter. "He … got the power to control these black holes." he told him. "They said it was as if he was attracting these things. I don´t know. All I know is that he went too far and that he lost control over it. And now, there are black holes opening all around the world, every day at least one alone in this city." His eyes became dark again. "They come randomly." he said. "No one knows when or where it will happen. Only three years and the seven billion people on this planet are reduced to …" he hesitated, thinking. "Last time I heard it was going down to one billion. It´s changing every day."

"Great Scott." Hiro breathed. "How´s that possible?"

"I´m not a scientist." Shawn Spencer replied. "Gus would have known but … Since these black holes have taken over the world, the rules have changed. You saw it."

Hiro nodded. Of course, when there was a force in the world that made planning for the future pointless, people would react to that. Especially bad guys and criminals would stop worrying about the law and just do what they wanted. The police wasn´t the most dangerous force anymore after all. What an awful thought to live in a world like that.

"When did this start?" Hiro asked. "What did Sylar do? And where?"

"I don´t know." Shawn Spencer said.

"But you are a psychic. You must have known."

"I´m not a psychic!" Shawn Spencer burst out all the sudden. "All right? That was just a charade I made up to make a living. If I would have known what was coming, don´t you think I would have done something to stop it? I would have killed that murderous bastard Sylar before he could do all this."

"I know how you feel." Hiro assured him but Shawn Spencer only snorted.

"How do you want to know how I feel?"

"Once I had the mission to kill Sylar to save the world." he said. "I was scared to do it. To kill a man. But I did it. I had to."

"You killed Sylar?" Shawn Spencer asked. "Funny. He didn´t look dead when he came to Santa Barbara."

Hiro lowered his eyes in embarrassment. "I know. He survived. I´m sorry."

Shawn Spencer´s glare was dark when he said: "You better."

"But I can still stop him from destroying the world." Hiro assured him. "I only need to know what happened. And when."

"You can´t change the past." Shawn said matter of factly. "All we can do is live with it the best we can."

"No." Hiro assured him. "When I go back …"

"No one can go back. Stop talking that nonsense."

Hiro stared at the man before him completely baffled. "If you don´t believe me, why did you come here with me?"

"Because he´s looking for something else." a new voice spoke up and startled Hiro again. Shawn Spencer on the other hand didn´t seem to be a bit surprised to see these new guests.

"What are you doing here, Carlton?" he asked. "Buzz."

The two police men walked up to them, looking around the place with slight curiosity. At last Lassiter´s eyes came to a rest on Shawn Spencer again. He didn´t say anything though, not before he´d faced Hiro. "It seems it was a good idea to let Buzz tail you." he said and turned to Shawn Spencer again. "But that he found you should surprise me. Why doesn´t it?"

"How am I supposed to know?" Shawn Spencer asked.

Lassiter turned around and looked at the covered body in the corner. Once again the hand was enough to know who lay there.

"I didn´t kill him." Shawn Spencer guessed the question before the detective could ask.

"I know. Buzz told me what happened."

"You were here?" Hiro asked the younger police man. "Why didn´t you do anything?"

"I came here following you." Buzz told him. "It was done. Nothing to be done from my part. Besides. My task was it to watch you."

"You say you can travel back in time?" Lassiter wanted to know.

Hiro nodded but Shawn Spencer talked before he could say anything. "You don´t actually believe him, do you?" he asked the detective.

"Is it a stranger thought than a man that can shapeshift and open black holes?" Lassiter replied. "If you wouldn´t be so set to your idea of revenge, you would consider that idea as well."

"There is nothing to consider." Shawn Spencer said. "No one can change the past. No one can bring them back."

"What if he could?" Lassiter asked.

"Stop that. There is no way of changing what happened."

"If Juliet would be here, she would tell you the same." Lassiter argued.

"Don´t you dare to talk in her name." Shawn Spencer shouted in rage.

"That´s what you claim to do all the time." Lassiter shouted back at him. "But that´s a lie and you know that."

In this moment Shawn Spencer just lost it and attacked the detective, with a yell. Hiro cried out in shock and jumped back. Lassiter had obviously expected the attack and swirled Shawn Spencer around easily, pinning him against the wall.

"She is dead, Shawn." he told him into his face. "If that is so hard for you to accept then why are you so oblivious about the idea to change that?"

"It´s called letting go." Shawn said.

"Yeah, I see how you let go. You let go for over a year now. What are you really doing here? Huh?"

When Shawn Spencer didn´t answer, Lassiter gave Buzz a glance and the younger officer went to the computer Shawn Spencer had been working on. He clicked on something Hiro couldn´t see and read for a moment.

"He sent him a message." he told Lassiter. "In Suresh´s name."

"Him?" Hiro repeated. Who were they talking about?

Lassiter didn´t seem to be surprised. "I knew it." he said and faced Shawn again. "So that´s your idea of letting go."

"He´s the last one that´s still alive. After he´s dead …"

"What then?" Lassiter interrupted him. "Huh? What is when he´s dead?"

"Then everybody who´s responsible has payed the prize for what they did." was Shawn Spencer´s answer.

Lassiter just stared at him for a moment. "I can´t let you do that." he said at last.

"You would try to stop me? Why? To protect this monster?"

"Because it´d be murder, Shawn." Lassiter replied. "And there is still a law in this town."

Shawn Spencer just snorted. "Why do you keep singing this song?" he asked. "It´s not true and you know it. Why do you keep trying to stop me?"

"Because it wasn´t him." Lassiter stated.

"I don´t care what he did or what he didn´t do." Shawn Spencer shouted.

"See, that´s exactly the problem." Lassiter shouted back. "You don´t want to punish. You only want to feed your need for blood. I can´t let you do that."

"Don´t stand in my way, Carlton." Shawn Spencer said in a low threatening voice. "That wouldn´t do you any good."

"You don´t leave me any choice, Shawn. Buzz!"

The moment the younger officer started to approach them, Shawn Spencer reached under his coat and pulled a gun. The clicking sound of the weapon being cocked echoed through the hall and a second later the detective had the muzzle under his chin.

"Not a single step closer, Buzz." Shawn Spencer demanded.

The young police man halted, an expression of shock on his face. Shawn Spencer faced Lassiter again.

"What?" the detective asked. "You´re going to shoot me too?"

"Please." Hiro cried out. "That is not necessary." But no one seemed to hear him.

"If you try to stand in my way, you leave me no choice." Shawn Spencer told the detective.

Lassiter was holding the gaze of the younger man without blinking. "You won´t shoot me." he stated.

"Don´t count on it." was the cold answer.

Hiro could see the tiredness in Shawn Spencer´s eyes again, the same expression he´d seen when he first met him, and for a moment he thought he would start to cry. The detective didn´t look much better.

"Stay out of this, Carlton." Shawn Spencer said now. "I don´t want to kill you. But believe me I will. So please. Don´t make me do this. Not because of this bastard."

The sound of a door echoed through the wide hall and made them all turn around. It wasn´t the front door they all had used. It had to be the back door.

"That´s him." Shawn Spencer stated matter of factly and faced the detective again.

Lassiter only shook his head. "I can´t let you do this." he said.

Shawn Spencer swallowed and shook his head as well. He didn´t say anything but that wasn´t necessary. Lassiter knew what this expression meant. It was as if they´d come to a silent agreement to just get over with it. Shawn Spencer pulled back the hammer of his gun and then squeezed the trigger. But instead of just letting him shoot him, Lassiter jumped forward and grabbed the other man´s arm, dragging it up. And the shot that had been meant for his head, went into the ceiling.

Hiro ducked down and hurried to take cover behind a shelf, while the two men struggled. Shawn Spencer raised his knee and sent Lassiter to the ground. Buzz who´d jumped forward when the shot went off, was at him now. Shawn swirled his gun around and pulled the trigger.

The young officer flinched when the bullet hit his stomach. He stared into the face of the other man in disbelieve. Shawn seemed shocked too, but only for a moment.

"I told you not to stand in my way." he said panting.

Another door was torn open and Shawn took his eyes off the dying officer.

"Mohinder?!" a familiar voice cried through the hall. Hiro´s heart skipped a beat when he realized who it was.

"Freeze!" the detective´s voice yelled through the hall and a second later there were gunshots again. Shawn Spencer fired blindly at the detective and then immediately at the startled Sylar.

Hiro ducked down for dear life. But still his curiosity got the better of him and he just had to peek around the shelf. He could see Sylar, taking cover behind a table, while bullets flew around him. A little closer to himself, he saw the detective, sitting on the ground, holding his bleeding shoulder.

Shawn Spencer was now inching closer to Sylar´s table. Hiro expected the killer to raise his hand to make him fly through the air or anything like that. But he didn´t do it. Nothing of this. Instead he looked at the covered body, a few feet away from him. The dark hand with the familiar silver ring on the thumb seemed to have taken away his will to fight. Now he knew that the message that had asked him to come here, had been a fake.

Sylar closed his eyes and for a moment Hiro almost believed to see a tear in the killer´s eyes. But that had to be a mistake. An optic illusion, caused by the light in this place.

"If you can really go back in time then go." Lassiter shouted at Hiro. "Go back. Save our future."

With that he took his gun again and fired, at Shawn Spencer. The man flinched when the bullet hit him in the shoulder and swirled around, eyes flashing with anger. He raised his gun and shot the detective, this time aiming better. Lassiter was thrown back and then he just lay still.

Sylar stared at him in disbelieve, just like Hiro. On some far away edge of his mind, Hiro wondered again why Sylar didn´t fight back with all the power he had. But then Shawn Spencer gave him the answer. He aimed his gun at Sylar and said: "Sucks to be so powerless, doesn´t it?"

And Sylar didn´t do anything, didn´t even say a word. He only looked into the eyes of the man that aimed at him, and finally a tear fell off his lid. The glance he threw at the covered body again, should be the last thing he ever did, and he knew that, when he faced Shawn Spencer again.

The bullet hit Sylar right between the eyes. He didn´t even try to avoid it. As if he´d accepted that there was no way, no future left for him. Sylar fell to the ground and was dead. The wound in his head wasn´t healing. It couldn´t. Not ever.

Hiro sat behind his shelf and didn´t know what to do. When Shawn Spencer walked over to him he expected him to shoot him too. But the man just looked down at him with a tired face.

"See that you get out of here." he said and walked away. On his way out he just threw his gun to the ground. The gun he´d just used to kill three men, two of them had been his friends.

Hiro´s hands were shaking.

_If you can really go back in time, then go, _the detective had said._ Go back. Save our future. _

But Hiro was still as clueless as he´d been when he first came here. He still didn´t know when all of this had started and how he should stop it. He didn´t even know why he was still alive. How could all of this happen so fast? Sylar? Powerless? Dead? Hiro just couldn´t believe it. When even this powerful and dangerous killer hadn´t been able to do anything … how was he supposed to do something?

But he had to do something. He just had to. There had to be some point in time he could go back to. To make things right, so this what had just happened would never come true.

He remembered the article, he´d read before. The only one with a date above it. So he went out of his hiding place to go and find it. Some of the boards he´d studied earlier, had bullet holes now and one had been thrown over. Hiro looked around at all the dead people. Detective Lassiter. His friend Buzz. Dr. Suresh. Even Sylar. Hiro´s heart sank down. Never in his life he would have believed that he would see Sylar as one of the victims. But now he saw it. The murderer was dead. Killed by Shawn Spencer. And he wouldn´t wake up again.

Hiro turned away from the sight and approached the board where he´d seen the article before. He had to search, but eventually he found it. October 22nd. The day before this awful thing had appeared in his and Ando´s stash. The only date that gave him a clue for where to go. He had no choice but to take it.

**...**

"And so I came back here." he finished his story, looking at all the people before him and especially at Bennet. "To save you from getting killed in your house." he said. "And to save the world."

He looked around and into the faces of all these people here in this sitting room. The sitting room, that would be destroyed three years from now.

"We all have to save the world."


	12. Changing Fate

**Changing Fate**

The seven people sat quietly in Henry Spencer´s living room, each of them deep in their own thoughts. What they had heard had left them more than just contemplative. There were still so many questions unanswered that no one knew where to start. From the kitchen they heard the voice of Hiro Nakamura how he talked to someone on the phone in Japanese. After he´d finished his story he´d asked Henry if he could use his phone, to call his friend in Japan. To warn him about the black hole that would open and swallow them in a few hours from now. He´d assured him that he had enough money to pay for the call, that he would send him some as soon as he was back home. Henry had grumbled and allowed him to use the damn phone. When Hiro came back, he looked a little more relieved.

"Everything good?" Bennet asked him and Hiro smiled and bowed quickly.

"Ando will keep my sister away from that place." he told them. "They will be save. I hope."

"But …" Gus spoke up with a frown. "Didn´t you just change the past by telling your friend what would happen?"

"Was I supposed to let my friend and my sister die?" Hiro asked.

"No." Gus immediately cried. "I just meant … without this incident … how will you ever land in the future? You said it was an accident. If you´re not forced to teleport yourself away from that black hole …"

"That won´t be a problem." Hiro assured him with a warm smile that became very proud the next moment. "I considered all these things and I told my friend that he has to make sure that I will be there when the black hole opens. The fact that I´m still here with you proves that he was successful."

Gus opened his mouth in amazed understanding. "Of course." he said. "Like a self fulfilling prophesy."

"Exactly!" Hiro cried with a wide excited grin. "Ando is very good at this. He really didn´t tell me anything." And as if he just realized this himself, Hiro frowned, deeply startled by that thought all the sudden. Ando really hadn´t told him anything. And he had known.

When he looked up, he met Shawn Spencer´s gaze, and he was frowning too, startled by Hiro´s reaction. His friend Gus had raised his brows, uncertain.

"This is unbelievable." Frank Wieland mumbled, deep in his own thoughts. "What you are telling here is physically impossible."

"No, it isn´t." Hiro assured him a little startled. "The space time continuum …"

"That´s not what I mean." the scientist talked over him and jumped up from the cough, to walk up and down the room. "You are telling me that in the future black holes will appear all around the world in regular intervals and that they actually remain in our world for more than just a few nanoseconds. This is just … impossible."

"Obviously not." Hiro said and looked around slightly helpless. "I saw it."

"And I don´t want to doubt your ability of perception." Frank assured him. "But what you describe … sorry but that is against everything that I learned and that I believed all my life. The rules of nature itself."

"I know that feeling." Henry mentioned. He had his arms crossed and looked as if he still thought them all to be nuts.

"Believe me." Bennet told Frank, ignoring Henry. "When you work and live with people like Hiro and yourself …"

"If I´m really one of them." Frank added for consideration.

"…you will learn that even things that were beyond your imagination so far, can be possible." Bennet just finished his sentence as if he hadn´t even heard him. "I have seen dead people coming back to life." he told him and threw Henry a glance, reminding him that he had seen that too. "I have seen a man moving the earth by his pure willpower."

"Are you kidding?" Henry cried with a smirk that spoke loud and clear that Bennet could tell him any kind of things and he would still barely believe half of it.

"I have even seen a man opening a black hole with a gesture of his hand." Bennet went back to Frank, once again ignoring the interruption.

"What?" Frank cried in shock. When Bennet only nodded at him, he asked: "Well, where is this man? Maybe he could help us. Is it this man Sylar, he mentioned?"

"No." Bennet answered before Hiro could. "The man I was referring to is dead. He took his own life. I was there. His name was Stephen Canfield. Ever heard of him? Anyone in your family ever mentioned his name?"

"You think I could be related to him." Frank got his drift immediately but shook his head. "No, I never heard the name. And I don´t believe that my family has any roots in America. We were always pretty boring in our heritage. I mean my father was from Romania … But still the family never moved around very much before the turn of the century. As far as I know, my sister and I were the only ones who ever left Switzerland."

Bennet nodded, looking a little disappointed. "Well, it was a try." he said.

"Who is this man Sylar?" Frank came back to the question that had bugged him the most so far. "Your future you said he was responsible for all of this." he recalled, looking at Shawn.

"Yeah, but he obviously lied." Lassiter objected. After a long glance from everybody in the room, he recalled: "He lied about the reason why he wanted to go to Suresh´s place. Is it that far off that he lied about other things too? I mean, let´s face it, Spencer is pretty good in that."

"He´s right." Shawn agreed with him, much to everybody´s surprised. "All my future me wanted was revenge. I think … I think he … I … believed myself what I said. To a certain point. But I don´t think that it was the whole truth."

"Then we don´t know anything." Bennet summarized.

"We know one thing." Gus objected and faced Hiro. "Suresh told you something about a … formular." he recalled. "That you should stop him from using it. Did he say what kind of a formular it was?"

"No. He didn´t have the time … or the strength." Hiro lowered his gaze.

"And in his place?" Lassiter asked. „Was there nothing that could have told you what he was talking about? Think."

For a moment Hiro really tried hard to remember, the effort very visible in his face, but in the end he had to give up. He sighed and shook his head. "I´m sorry."

"Well, I suggest we just give Dr. Suresh a call and ask him." Bennet said and took his cell phone out. He searched the number and then pressed the call button. It started to ring. One time. Two times. After the third the connection was suddenly lost. Bennet looked at his display in confusion.

"The connection is lost." he informed the others. He tried again to call the geneticist but this time he didn´t even get a connection.

"What does that mean?" Juliet asked.

"Maybe he doesn´t want to be disturbed." Gus suggested but Bennet shook his head.

"It was like that in my apartment before he showed up." he remembered with a gesture at Hiro.

"What?" some of them cried unisono.

"Oh, no." the small Japanese exclaimed. "In the future this house was destroyed by one of the black holes."

"Are you telling me my house is about to be destroyed?" Henry Spencer cried and stepped forward. All the sudden he didn´t seem to have any problems believing what Hiro said.

"We must leave now!" Hiro cried, looking at everybody excited.

"Wait wait." Bennet called them back absolutely calm. "I still have service in here. It´s not like it was in my place."

"Uhm." Hiro´s eyes rushed back and forth. "We can´t be sure." he said. "We should leave the house anyway."

"I believe it´s Suresh´s side that was disconnected." Bennet decided without paying attention to him. He looked down on the phone in his hand and tried to think. Was it possible that Gus had been right after all?

**...**

It was almost sundown when Sylar climbed the stairs of the motel. Finally. The time had been crawling today. Finally his shift was over. He was anxious to see what Mohinder had found out, if he had really found a person in this area that had the ability to destroy places and let people vanish in the process.

Sylar had thought about this the whole day and he´d stumbled over a memory that fitted everything in this perfectly. A man named Stephen Canfield who´d been able to open black holes. He could have killed him, Bennet and Claire back then. He almost had. Unfortunately he´d taken his own life before Sylar had had a chance to get to him. If there was only the slightest chance that there was another person out there that had the same ability … maybe a lightning could strike two times.

He reached the door to Mohinder´s room and knocked. There was no answer. Was the geneticist even there?

"Mohinder?" he called and tried the door. It wasn´t locked. He opened it and peered in. No one was to be seen. Slowly and a little confused the killer set his foot into the room. Where was he?

Sylar was in the process of crossing the room to have a look at the desk, when behind him a cell phone started to ring. He swirled around just in time to see a needle coming down on him. Instinctively he raised his hand and telekinetically pushed the syringe out of the scientist´s hand. It didn´t stop the movement though and Mohinder´s arm collided with his shoulder. Sylar grabbed him and swirled him around. The cell phone that was still ringing, fell to the ground and broke. But that was not what concerned Sylar in this moment.

"What is that?" he cried, looking at the doctor. "What are you doing?"

He pushed him against the wall but was once more painfully reminded of the other man´s enhanced strength. After an elbow knocked back his head, his still firm grip on the scientist´s collar was opened by iron hands and Mohinder started to struggle against him. A fist hit him over the head. Sylar ducked down and when he saw in the corner of his eye that Mohinder got ready to strike again, he sawed away his legs with a swift kick.

For a moment Mohinder just lay there, squinting in pain but when he opened his eyes again, he instantly reached his arms behind his head, pushed and was back on his feet. He immediately lunged forward to attack Sylar but the killer just reached out a hand and telekinetically lifted him up, shoving him backwards until he was pinned against the wall.

Mohinder panted angrily when he realized that he had once again lost against this particular ability of the killer. Sylar was panting too, but he was not angry because of the punches. He was angry about something else. His eyes were on the syringe that had landed on the ground.

"Is that poison?" he asked.

"No." the geneticist answered, still panting.

"Then what? What are you doing?"

"It´s the formular." Mohinder told him frankly. "I finished it."

"The … The formular to take away my powers?" Sylar couldn´t believe it. "You had it here all along?"

"No. I finished it today."

Sylar shook his head. "You´re really one busy bee, ain´t you?" he said. "And I thought you believed me. You could have asked me before you forced it into my veins."

"I couldn´t take the chance." Mohinder defended his actions. "You of all people should understand why."

"No, doctor." Sylar hissed. "I don´t understand. I don´t understand why you always choose to betray me. I gave you my word."

"You´re a murderer. You expect me to trust your word?"

"Yes, Mohinder, that´s what I expected. But obviously I was wrong." He reached out a hand and Mohinder flinched, obviously expecting something that was meant to hurt him. But instead Sylar reached out for the cell phone that lay on the ground and it came to him like a well behaved dog. He looked at the display and wasn´t surprised at all to read this name.

"Bennet." he said. "You conspired with Bennet against me? Did he tell you to do that?"

"No." Mohinder claimed. "He doesn´t even know."

"Then why is he calling you right in this moment?" Sylar demanded to know. "Coincidence?"

"I don´t know." the geneticist insisted.

"Well, we can find out." the killer replied and in the next moment the broken cell was floating over his open hand, repairing itself within a few seconds.

The killer threw the Indian an intense glance, when he pressed the dial-back key. The cell found the connection and it started to ring. While the first tone was in his ear, Sylar shifted his form until his face was the mirror image of the man before him, minus the shocked expression maybe.

He smiled and reached out his hand and lay it over the mouth of the scientist, so he wouldn´t speak into his chat with Bennet. When Mohinder struggled, he made a gentle shushing sound to stop him. The scientist´s expression went from disbelieve over this treatment to pissed within two seconds. His gaze said loud and clear: Asshole! But his struggles remained unsuccessful anyway. Sylar smiled again. Then his call was answered and he heard Bennet´s voice.

"Mohinder?" the Company man asked.

"Noah." Sylar said with Mohinder´s voice. "What is it, you called me." He found it was pretty easy to fake the accent of the Indian man and a proud smile appeared on his lips. The real Mohinder looked at him furious.

"The line was suddenly disconnected." Bennet mentioned concerned.

"Yeah, you startled me and I dropped the phone." the false Mohinder explained. "What´s the matter? Did anything happen?"

"In a matter of fact yes." Bennet said. "I need to ask you something, Mohinder. Are you currently working on a formular of some sort?"

Sylar locked eyes with Mohinder. "Why?" he asked Bennet.

"I had a visit from our old friend Hiro." was the strange answer.

"Hiro Nakamura?"

Mohinder´s eyes became a little wider, the concern unmistakable.

"He had an unplanned trip to the future." Bennet told Sylar on the phone. "And what he saw … was not optimistic to say the least. Your future you told him to stop him from using a certain formular. Any idea why he could have said that?"

"I might have an idea." Sylar said, looking intensely at Mohinder.

"So there _is_ a formular." Bennet understood.

"You might have stopped me from using it just in time, Noah."

"Really?"

Mohinder was looking back at him, answering Sylar´s accusing look fearless.

"Yes." Sylar answered Bennet´s question.

"Listen, we have someone here you should meet." the Company man told him now. "I think it´s possible that he has an ability but I can´t be sure. I´d like to have you run some tests on him to find that out."

"What kind of an ability do you suspect?" Sylar asked, now all ears.

"To be honest I´m not even sure about that." Bennet said. "Not a hundred percent at least. Let´s just say it´s a potentially dangerous one. I really would appreciate your help."

"Has it something to do with the missing people in this area?"

There was a brief hesitation on the other side. "How do you know?" Bennet asked.

"I followed it in the news." Sylar explained. Mohinder was again struggling to get free from this hand over his mouth but he had no chance. "I feared that it could be something like that but I had no proof." Sylar went on talking as if it was no effort at all to keep the scientist quiet.

"You were right." Bennet affirmed. "It´s possible that I have the man responsible here."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah. But to know that for sure, I need your help."

"Don´t worry." Sylar said. "I´m on my way."

"What about Sylar?" Bennet asked. "According to Hiro´s story, I think it´s better if we prevent that he meets our new friend."

"I take care of him." Sylar promised. "He won´t get near him."

"Don´t kill him, Mohinder." Bennet said unexpectedly.

"I won´t." Sylar replied, a little startled. He looked at the real Mohinder and smiled. "I promise." he added and then asked Bennet: "Where are you?"

"I´m at Henry Spencer´s place. That´s at the beach." Bennet named the address and some brief instructions to reach the place. Sylar listened to it and had to restrain himself from telling Bennet that he knew the place anyway.

"I´ll be there in half an hour or so." he promised.

"Thanks, Mohinder." Bennet said and hung up.

Sylar switched off the cell and looked at Mohinder for a moment. His features changed back to his own self. The smile that had been there earlier was gone and the expression in the killer´s eyes was hard and accusing. The fingers of his hand that held the doctor´s face were tensing, taking turns in squeezing and releasing, as if he wasn´t sure if he wanted to squash him or not. He shook his head and for a moment, Mohinder expected him to punch him in the face. Unwillingly he heard Sylar´s words again from so many years ago.

_Your father betrayed me. Don´t make that same mistake, Mohinder._

Was that it? Had he done it now? Had he crossed this famous Sylar-line with his try to inject him? This man was twisted enough to see it that way. He´d seen it that way years ago with Mohinder´s father and his father hadn´t survived that. But his father didn´t have an ability like him. If Sylar should try to kill him, he would have to fight.

But in the end Sylar didn´t do anything at all. He just stared at him and after a while, he finally released Mohinder´s mouth.

"What are you gonna do?" the scientist demanded to know. The rest of him was still immobilized.

"That doesn´t concern you … doctor." Sylar said, almost spitting out the last word in disgust. "Not anymore."

"Don´t do this." Mohinder said, half begging, half warning.

"Do what?" Sylar asked without really asking. "Kill this man to take his power?" His right eyebrow went up for a moment. "And why not? After all, that is all I really can, isn´t it?"

For a moment Mohinder didn´t know what to say. The tone in Sylar´s voice startled him. But Sylar didn´t wait for him to figure it out. There was something in his eyes that scared the geneticist. It was as if his face was darker all the sudden, not only the expression but also the shadow that lay over it.

"Don´t bother." the killer said hard. "There is nothing to say anyway. You made this quite clear."

"Wait a second." Mohinder cried but Sylar didn´t wait. He was at the end of his patience. He just raised his hand to the geneticist´s face and within the wink of an eye he put the struggling man to sleep.

**...**

"We can´t stay here." Hiro repeated maybe for the hundredth time by now. He was still walking up and down Henry´s sitting room in a nervous manner. "It´s too dangerous." he said. "We should go somewhere else."

"He´s right." Gus agreed not less nervous. "What if this black hole opens right in the next moment? It´s suicide to stay in this house."

"Right." Hiro agreed, happy that at least someone was with him on this.

"This house won´t be destroyed tonight." Shawn cried all the sudden, more nerved than really concerned. Everybody looked at him startled, but he didn´t even look up at any of them. Not even at Gus and Hiro.

"How do you want to know?" Gus demanded to know.

Shawn sighed. "He said in the future it was a year ago." he recalled pointing at Hiro. "And you said you were in 2015. That means this house won´t be destroyed before … not tonight, all right?" He let his head hang and wiped a hand over his forehead.

Juliet exchanged a glance with Gus, before taking a seat at Shawn´s side. When her hands touched his shoulder, he seemed to relax a little. Still the tension didn´t go away. Not by a long shot.

"Shawn, what is it?" she asked him.

For a moment he looked at her with this tensed expression on his face. Then his features softened and he smiled for her. "It´s nothing." he claimed. "Just this whole … becoming … what he said."

he pointed at Hiro, who looked very sorry in this moment.

"Tell me about it." Lassiter agreed from the other side of the room.

Shawn looked up at him, surprised that the detective had spoken up.

"I mean you shot me according to him." Lassiter recalled. "That´s not the way this is supposed to happen. If anyone should be allowed to shoot someone, then it should be me shooting you. I mean there are rules, aren´t there? Doesn´t fate have any form of decency left?"

Shawn held his gaze for another moment, determined to stay depressed, but then he just couldn´t help and laughed. He let his head hang down but still it felt good to laugh. Even if it was just for a moment. When he looked back up at Lassiter, the detective´s face was serious. Shawn nodded at him gratefully and Lassiter mirrored the nod. They didn´t need to say any more.

Juliet looked from her partner, to Gus and then at Shawn again. When she found that there really wasn´t anything else to say, she contented herself with massaging Shawn´s shoulders in a comforting way. It was all she could do for the time being.

"Let´s just wait for the doctor to come here." Bennet suggested. "Then we´ll see."

They all agreed in silence and so they waited – in silence.

It took the good doctor another half hour to finally arrive. They heard the engine of a car that stopped outside and a minute later it knocked on the door.

"I´ll get it." Bennet said with a raised hand, to stop Henry from getting up. He went to the door and opened it. Mohinder stood there, looking at him expectedly. His taxi was parked at the curbside.

"Hello, doctor." Bennet greeted him. "Thanks for coming."

"No problem." Mohinder replied.

"What did you do with Sylar?" Bennet asked.

"I put him to sleep." was the simple answer. "I might not trust him but he always trusted me." The geneticist arched his eyebrow for a moment in reconsideration. "He probably won´t any longer after this." he found.

"How long will he sleep?" Bennet wanted to know.

"Long enough." Mohinder assured him.

"Are you sure?"

"I hadn´t left him unwatched if I wasn´t sure."

At last Bennet nodded. "All right." he said and finally made a step aside to let Mohinder pass. "Come right in. We were already waiting for you impatiently."

The Indian scientist smiled humbly and walked in to get to work.


	13. Guess Who I Am

**Guess who I am**

When Bennet and Mohinder entered the living room, it was as if a long announced visit of a monarch or something was happening. Everybody in the room stopped talking and looked at them in silence. The scientist didn´t seem to be disturbed by that reaction, while even Bennet seemed a little uncomfortable.

"I believe you know most of us already." he said to break the silence.

"Of course." the scientist replied and nodded at the gathering with a friendly smile. When his eyes came to a rest on Shawn and Juliet, his smile seemed to increase a little.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Henry barked all the sudden, startling not only the good doctor. He stared at Suresh with a face that was pale and suspicious all at once. "You´re supposed to be dead." he told Suresh almost accusingly. "I saw you with a bullet in your head."

"That was Raj, dad." Shawn corrected with a tired voice. "Remember?"

"He was Dr. Suresh´s cousin." Gus explained.

Henry was still staring at Suresh, still in disbelieve but mostly astonished, over that amazing resemblance.

"You must be Henry Spencer I assume." Suresh addressed him, offering his hand.

"That´s right." Henry affirmed, accepting the handshake.

"It´s a pleasure to finally meet you." Suresh said with an earnest smile. "You´re the last one of this amazing assemble that was still missing in my collection."

"Your collection?" Henry repeated uncertain.

"Everybody else I already met." Suresh explained his strange choice of words, not really easing Henry´s mind.

"I hate to cut the reunion short." Bennet chipped in. "Dr. Suresh may I introduce you to your patient for tonight?"

"We already know each other." the Swiss came forward before Bennet had a chance to say his name.

Everybody looked at Suresh at this, and an embarrassed smile appeared on the scientist´s face. "I´m sorry." he seemed startled. "I …"

"Don´t you remember me?" Frank asked. "You drove me from the airport to my sister´s, a few days ago."

Mohinder opened his mouth in recognition, only for a moment. "I´m so sorry." he then said, smiling. "But there were so many customers in my taxi lately …"

"It´s all right." Frank smiled and shook his hand. "We can make good for it now. Hi, I´m Frank."

"Mohinder."

"Seems that everybody has a second job today, huh? Geneticist?"

"That´s right. I used to teach at the university of Madras before I came to America."

Frank shook his head. "What´s wrong with this country that highly educated people have to drive taxis?"

"There are various reasons for why I did these things." Suresh said with a shrug. "It´s hard to explain."

Frank nodded. "Well … genetics is not my field so please forgive me when I don´t know about your work. I´m sure you barely heard my name before either."

"Right on both parts." Mohinder smiled. "You are a colleague then."

"If you want to call it that." Frank said.

"You´re too humble." Bennet chipped in with a tone of surprise in his voice. "Dr. Wieland is one of the leading physicists that work at the ATLAS-Project."

Suresh hesitated for a moment, looking at Bennet and Wieland uncertain. But then he shook his head again. "Maybe you should start at the beginning. What is all this about?"

Bennet started to tell him what Hiro had told them, in a nutshell, as much as this was possible. Once in a while someone would fill in some gaps that he left out to complete the picture. When he was finished, Suresh seemed very contemplative.

"That sounds … serious." was all he knew to say for the time being.

"It is." Bennet affirmed and in the background Shawn snorted, humorlessly.

"You were dead in this future." Bennet recalled one more time to underline the statement.

Mohinder nodded seriously. After a moment he asked: "And Sylar?"

"He´d lost his powers." Hiro told him. "That´s all I know."

"I see." Suresh said, thinking this over for a second. "I guess that is something that has now changed … since I didn´t inject him the way I planned."

"Was that what the formular was for?" Bennet asked him. "To take away his powers."

"I had a breakthrough in my research." Mohinder explained. "It was pure coincidence. Sylar agreed to help me. But after this last victim was found … I didn´t want to wait for his permission anymore. In case he should refuse the injection. I guess I … was scared … and felt responsible."

"Whatever Sylar might have done is not your fault, Mohinder." Bennet emphasized.

"No." the scientist said and managed a smile. "You´re right."

"So I understand that you didn´t inject him yet." Bennet repeated the facts one more time.

"No. I wanted to but then you called."

"I see."

"After what you told us, it seems that it would be better though." Gus said, speaking to Hiro. "Wouldn´t it? I mean the way you describe it, it´ll be Sylar who´ll destroy the world."

"We´re not sure about that." Bennet said. The calm and reasonable voice of a man that was used to regard every aspect of a thing before he jumped to a conclusion. He faced Suresh again. "You see we have strong reasons to assume that Frank here …"

"I don´t know who this Sylar person is." Frank talked right over him. "But I know what I remember from my own life and all these things that are happening lately … let´s just say I … somehow feel that there is something with me. I can´t explain what. God, I´m still totally freaked out by the mere thought but … it´s something dark."

Mohinder looked at him with a professional frown. He nodded. "I need to do some tests with you to find that out." he said. "Therefore I´ll need a sample of your blood and a place to work."

Bennet gestured for the kitchen but Henry was much faster again. "You won´t do that in my kitchen." he barked. "No way."

"They have to do it somewhere." Lassiter told him, regarding the older Spencer as if he´d just turned crazy.

"But not in my kitchen." Henry repeated stubbornly. "I just got a new table and the linoleum is not older than a few months. Find another place."

"How about the garage?" Bennet suggested calmly. "Would you be okay with that?"

Henry was quiet for a moment. Maybe because of the quick alternative that was offered to him, or maybe because he hadn´t thought of it himself. But in the end he shrugged and gestured for the door.

"Knock yourself out." he said.

Mohinder nodded. "I brought my instruments and my computer. It´s in the cab. If I could drive it to the garage …"

"Sure. Sure." Henry told him, shaking his head as if he wanted to say, do what you have to do but leave me out of it.

Mohinder nodded for Bennet. "I´ll be back in a minute." he promised and headed for the door to get his car.

"We´ll prepare the garage for you." Bennet promised right back and while the geneticist headed for his cab, the rest of them busied themselves with clearing out some space in the garage. They put up a table and just when they´d brought two chairs too, the cab stopped at the gate of the garage.

Sylar/Mohinder got out of the car and gathered the geneticist´s stuff, preparing act two of this performance. After he´d arranged it on the table, he gave Wieland a musing look.

So that was him, huh? The man he´d been so curious about. The one responsible for the missing people. The one with this fascinating ability. An ability he didn´t understand himself yet. Well, maybe he could help him understand how it worked.

When the Swiss scientist gave him an asking face, he picked up a syringe. "Would you mind?" he asked Wieland.

"Oh, no of course." the Swiss said, immediately rolling up his sleeve for him.

Sylar/Mohinder approached him, preparing the needle. Unbelievable but he was nervous. He was not a doctor and therefor he wasn´t practiced in taking blood out of a veine. When he´d made blood come it had been in a much more savage way. But he had to seem confident and experienced so he went for it. Fortunately he had a good memory, so he did his best to imitate what doctor´s usually did when taking blood. The needle slipped into Wieland´s arm rather smoothly. After the syringe was filled, Sylar/Mohinder pressed a pad onto the scientist´s arm.

"Thank you." he said politely.

He´d watched Mohinder do this kind of work often enough to know what to do with the blood, now that he had it. He filled it into another vial and put the tiny thing into the centrifuge he´d brought along. He fiddled with the small device for a moment to figure out how to make it run. When he couldn´t find the switch in time, he inconspicuously used his telekinesis to make it run. It worked. The stupid thing came to life and started to shake the blood sample dizzy.

Sylar/Mohinder looked at his companions, who seemed to be gathered around him like an audience of students in the worlds smallest auditorium. Damn, how had Mohinder been able to stand it being watched like that, back in the days when he´d been teaching? It would drive him crazy if people would stare at him like that all the time.

"How long will this take?" Wieland asked gratefully.

"Long." Sylar used the word Mohinder had used when he´d asked him a similar question not so long ago, hoping it sounded convincing enough. What would happen to the sample was not his concern anyway. The whole thing was just an act, to convince his audience about the lie that he actually knew how to go on with this treatment.

"We could use the time by doing some more tests." he suggested. "I´d like to test your perception, your reactions to shadow and light, things like that. Do you have any flashlights in the house?" he asked, following an intuition.

"I´ll get you some." Henry promised and was about to go and fetch them.

"And maybe also some candles if you find some." Sylar/Mohinder added quickly. "I would like to test his reactions to different kinds of light."

Sylar had no idea how convincing this sounded but from his own experience he knew that people believed that the scientist in charge knew what he did, especially when he was talking things that were seemingly ridiculous. It seemed to work. Henry Spencer nodded.

"As long as you don´t set my house on fire." he said.

Sylar/Mohinder smiled. "I´ll try not to." he assured him.

After Henry was gone, he addressed the rest of his unwanted audience. "I´m afraid I have to ask you all to leave us alone for these tests." he said. "To eliminate the danger of influencing the test results I´d prefer it to have as less people in the room with Mr. Wieland as possible."

"I thought we could watch." Gus cried undisguised disappointed. "I mean …"

"I´m really sorry." Sylar/Mohinder said gently. "But tests like these are very sensitive and catching for errors. Sometimes it´s even too much to be in the room no matter how quiet you are. But if Dr. Wieland is afraid of being alone with me …"

"God, no." Wieland denied. "Whatever you say, doc."

Sylar gave his best Mohinder smile and nodded gratefully at him. "I love to have a willing victim like you."

"You mean testsubject."

"Right." Sylar/Mohinder said, shaking his head as if he´d just realized his mistake.

Wieland chuckled. He was obviously grateful that the tension had been released a little with this joke.

Henry came back and brought two flashlights, a package of candles plus a candle holder and even a lantern. "I found this here too." he said and held the later up. "Maybe as a third sort of light. Don´t know if you can use that for anything."

"That´s very thoughtful of you." Sylar/Mohinder said. "It will serve the tests quite well, thank you."

"All right." Bennet said at last. "We´ll be right outside. Call if you need anything."

"We will." Sylar/Mohinder said, looking up after he´d supposedly examined the brought tools for their viability. He gave Noah an assuring nod mixed with just the right amount of insecurity, he figured Mohinder would have shown in this situation. The Company man mirrored the nod and then led the people out of the garage to give the good doctor the room he needed to do what he could do best.

**...**

"I tell you, something is off about that guy." Henry announced his opinion when they were back in the kitchen.

"Who?" Gus asked startled. "Wieland?"

"He too." Henry replied. "But right now I´m talking about this so called doctor. Something is off about him."

"For you there is something off about everyone." Lassiter argued.

"That´s not what I mean." the older Spencer insisted. "I don´t trust him."

Lassiter waved his hand through the air, dismissing Henry´s opinion before he even had a chance to tell it.

"I can assure you, Mr. Spencer." Bennet spoke up to ease the situation. "Dr. Suresh is one of the few people in this world, I would trust with my life."

"Your life." Henry replied. "What about ours?"

"Honestly." Lassiter spoke up again. "Sometimes I wonder what your problem is. Is that a genetically embedded aversion to each and everyone?"

"Look who´s talking." Henry replied.

"The man came here to help us."

"Since when are _you_ so fond with your trust?" Henry asked.

"This guy faced certain death along with us a few weeks ago." Lassiter recalled. "He has proven himself in my book."

"He´s right." Juliet agreed with him, in a much calmer tone though. "Dr. Suresh is one of the good guys."

"As long as he doesn´t grow scales." Gus added quietly.

**...**

"I´m not sure what you hope to find out with these tests." Frank Wieland told Dr. Suresh in the garage. "I never reacted to light in any way that was out of the ordinary. At least not as far as I know."

"You just said it." was the answer. "As far as you know. It´s possible that your organism shows subtle reactions that you don´t even notice." He´d put up some candles and now walked over to the light switch. He pushed it. The garage drowned in almost pitch black dark. "You feel any difference?" he asked Wieland.

"Well …" the physicist said. "A little more creeped out."

Sylar chuckled. "Well, I guess that´s normal so far." he switched on the flashlight he held in his hand and shone it on Wieland. The Swiss shielded his eyes against the light. For a moment Sylar just looked at him. So far he looked like a totally normal guy. A scientist but otherwise completely ordinary. But that was how almost all of them looked for the untrained eye.

Sylar had better eyes than that. He had something that was even better than eyes. He had an ability that helped him to look through the facade. And this ability told him that this man before him, that looked so innocent and ordinary, was something more than met the eye. So much more. There was something about him that made Sylar´s blood curl. A feeling he hadn´t had for quite a long time.

"Do you see anything special?" Wieland asked him, obviously wondering why Dr. Suresh was still holding the flashlight fixed on him.

"Maybe." Sylar/Mohinder replied and finally lowered the light to the ground.

Wieland lowered his arm, grateful to be released from that blinding light. He squinted a few times to readjust his eyes. Sylar was sure that he still saw green points floating before his eyes. He approached the man, watching him closely with each step. So far there was no reaction to his approach. Oh, it would be so easy to grab him now and push him against the wall. The poor guy wouldn´t even have the time to scream. Maybe he, Sylar, would even have the time to kill him before anyone outside knew what was going on. But a maybe was too less for an experienced killer like Sylar.

"Now what?" Wieland asked. "How long do I have?"

For a moment Sylar wasn´t sure what he meant, but then Wieland grinned and he got the joke.

"I´m not sure." he said and that was the truth. "I need to try something else. Would you help me please?"

He started to move the table closer to the wall and Wieland gave him a hand. After he´d switched on the two flashlights and the lantern, Henry had brought, there was an almost perfect area in the corner of the garage that was halfway lightened and halfway in the dark.

"Please stand over here." Sylar/Mohinder asked Wieland. The physicist did as he was asked and instinctively went for the dark side of the corner. Sylar took a mental note about that. He was sure Wieland hadn´t done that consciously.

"Just standing here?" he now asked him.

"For the moment yes." Sylar/Mohinder said and watched him intensely. There was something about this man, the way he stood in that shadow. But he couldn´t name it yet. "And now step into the light please." he said. "Slowly."

Wieland obeyed and Sylar watched him closely how he changed from the dark into the light. There it was again. Something very subtle, something everyone else might have overlooked. Maybe even Mohinder. But he saw it. Better yet, he felt it. Something happened with Wieland when he stepped into the light and out of the dark. More than that, something happened to the light and the darkness while he crossed the border. As if the shadow attempted to follow him, just long enough for Sylar to notice it. Again, everyone else might have overlooked it. Or maybe they would have attributed it to a trick of their own eyes, caused by the darkness in this room. But Sylar had more than his eyes to rely on.

No, that was not a blurred vision he had here. This was Wieland. It was Wieland´s ability. Sylar had no idea how this ability would be called but it was simply amazing. This man actually attracted the shadow. It was attached to him like a magnet to another. Not strong enough to really follow him into the light but strong enough to try. Maybe just because he never knew and never tried to take more control over it. It was simply amazing.

"What is it?" Wieland asked when he noticed the glowing gaze of the other man. He looked around himself. "What did you see?"

Sylar made himself focus again. "I´m not sure." he lied. "I … It looked as if the shadow … tried to follow you into the light." he explained his observation. Wieland went visibly pale at this. "But it could have been my own eyes." Sylar/Mohinder hurried to calm him down. "I wish I had a chance to see different states of shadow. In here there is only light and shadow. But, I´m sure you know that, there can be so many different states of darkness. If we could go outside, I could test if you show the same reaction to … let´s say the moonlight. Or under a streetlamp. Or any other …"

"All right, let´s do it." Wieland said, quickly. He was still tensed and pale but he was obviously more than willing to leave this garage. Sylar´s heartbeat started to speed up.

"Are you sure?" he asked the physicist.

"You are the doc." Wieland said as if he didn´t understand the question. "If you think it´s necessary …"

Sylar/Mohinder nodded. "All right, Dr. Wieland." he said.

"Frank, please." Wieland replied. "I believe we´re beyond formalities by now."

"All right, Frank." Sylar/Mohinder said. "Then let´s go. It won´t take long, I promise." And with a smile he added: "It won´t hurt."

Frank smiled back at him, nervous but still a hundred percent trusting.

**...**

In the living room Shawn was walking up and down nervously, while Bennet did the same, on the other side of the room. Juliet sat on the couch, watching them both with uneasy eyes. Henry and Lassiter were in the kitchen, both of them leaning on the table, holding their mugs as if performing synchronized drinking. Even though none of them _was_ drinking. They were just staring ahead like sleepwalkers. Hiro Nakamura sat in the armchair, looking around the whole scene with uneasy eyes just like Juliet. Their eyes met for a moment and then the two of them went on looking around, each on their own.

The only one who seemed not deeply sunken in his own thoughts was Gus. He was sitting on Henry´s computer, taking turns with typing and reading and clicking on various things. Shawn threw nervous glances over at his friend from time to time and the clearances between his glances became shorter and shorter, his gaze more and more pissed.

"Gus, would you stop fiddling with that computer?" he cried at last. "You´re driving me crazy."

Everybody in the room looked up at them, startled out of their thoughts. Not that the two of them would have noticed that.

"I´m driving you crazy?" Gus cried back at Shawn. "Stop pacing around like a puma in his cage before you lecture me."

For a moment Shawn was baffled and even Bennet looked down on himself as if he hadn´t even noticed that he´d been pacing all the time.

"I´m nervous." Shawn defended himself.

"So am I." Gus replied. "And I need to be productive when I´m nervous."

"I don´t think that checking your e-mails or playing video games will do very much to help us now." Shawn said.

"I´m not playing games, Shawn." Gus objected. "I´m doing some research on Frank Wieland and the ATLAS- Project."

"What do you do that for? He´s right here. If there´s anything to know we can ask him."

"And what if he forgets to mention the most important thing? The man´s nervous too. Take yourself. You forget to mention value information all the time."

"That´s true." Lassiter agreed from the kitchen, causing everybody to turn around to him at this unexpected call out.

"Did you find anything interesting?" Bennet asked, curious.

"In fact I did." Gus told him proudly. "I was just in the process of reading an interview our friend Frank gave not so long ago. It´s about …" he looked at the computer again to be sure what he was talking about. After he´d read for a moment, he paled a little. "Oh-oh." he made.

"What?"

"It says that C.E.R.N. recently started a new test series with the LHC." Gus told them all. "They keep it running on a higher level of energy than they did before to …" he read a little further. "It doesn´t say it explicit but … the interviewer asked Wieland if that would higher the risk of black holes to appear."

"What did he say?"

Gus was reading again. "He says the chance is minimal." he summarized at last. "That black holes only exist a few seconds within our world and that there is no danger even if one should open in the core of our planet."

"Guess again." Hiro said. "It will be very very dangerous."

"You guys think …" Shawn spoke up, trying to look at Bennet, Gus and Hiro simultaneously. "That this … super run on that thing could be the reason for … for what he saw?" he pointed at Hiro.

"Of course it is." Lassiter said grimly, joining them. "They put that thing on full load and around this guy black holes start to pop up every second day? That´s no coincidence."

"We have to put it out." Hiro cried stepping forward. "Before it gets worse. Before they destroy the world."

"You´re right." Bennet nodded, much calmer than the Japanese. "I´ll call the director of C.E.R.N. and ask him to switch it off."

"You can do that?" Lassiter asked excited. Bennet gave him a face and he understood. A little disappointed he took half a step back, looking down like an embarrassed student.

"But … we need to do something." Hiro cried.

Bennet looked at the computer for a moment, trying to think. "Let´s just wait until Dr. Suresh is done with his tests." he suggested at last. "Then we talk to Wieland and think about this. I reckon that we have the time to do that."

No one disagreed with him. It was just as everyone was settling down, to wait for it, that something started to beep, like a sirene. Everybody jumped at the sound, alarmed, until Gus reached for his pocket, to get his cell phone out. He switched it off, smiling apologetic.

"I´m sorry." he said and held it up for a moment, to emphasize one more time, that it was off now.

"What was that?" Bennet wanted to know.

"Nothing. That´s just my alarm. I´m counting down to tonight´s total lunar eclipse, at two a.m."

Something happened in the face of the man that was usually so calm and composed. This time he was visibly paling. "A what?" he almost breathed.

"Oh boy." Hiro made behind him and Bennet swirled around. The two of them looked at each other like they´d just gotten the word, about an asteroid, having crashed into the center of New York.

"What?" Lassiter asked. "What´s the matter?"

"Eclipses used to have a severe effect on the abilities of special people." Bennet explained.

"Severe?" Henry repeated wary. "What does that mean?"

"I …" Bennet shook his head. "I don´t know exactly how it works." he admitted. "Not even Suresh could explain that. But … it takes away their powers or … gives it back. I don´t know. Usually it was about the sun, but …"

"We need to do something." Hiro cried again. "Now. Don´t you see? This is it. This lunar eclipse will cause the apocalypse. We need to stop this machine of the shadow man before it is too late. My father´s concern was fonding C.E.R.N. I will call them and demand that they switch it off."

"They will never listen to you in time." Bennet argued.

"But we have to try."

"No. Not like that. We can´t take the chance."

"Where are you getting with that?" Juliet asked, guessing something.

"As he said." Bennet nodded at Hiro. "We don´t have the time. And we need to act."

"You plan to go in there and put it out yourself, don´t you?" Lassiter guessed with an excited glowing in his eyes. Bennet nodded serious.

"Hiro can bring us there." he said. "We go in and make sure that this machine will not run for a while."

"This is one of the most important scientific appliances on this planet." Gus cried. "You can´t just destroy it."

"Would you prefer an apocalypse?" Bennet shot back and Gus was silenced.

"I´ll get Wieland." Lassiter said eagerly. "He works there. He can guide us when we´re in there."

"Wait." Bennet held him back. "I think it´s not a good idea to let him go near that thing. Especially not tonight."

"Right." Lassiter agreed, after a second thought.

"But he can tell us how to get to the LHC." Bennet agreed with his idea nonetheless. "And maybe how to switch it off without causing a catastrophe of our own."

Lassiter nodded eagerly and was in the process of heading for the garage, when Bennet´s cell phone started to ring. The detective halted and waited, curious. Noah opened his phone, to answer the call.

"Bennet."

"Noah." the voice of Mohinder Suresh cried in his ear. "It´s Sylar. He knocked me out. I´m still at the motel."

Something in Noah´s head switched into gear at once. He didn´t need to hear any more. He´d pulled his gun and was on the way to the garage in no time. Henry´s surprised and angry shouting was far away for him and didn´t mean anything. He busted the door that led to the garage and stormed in without a warning, aiming ahead at the place where he´d left the fake Suresh and Frank Wieland.

It was no use though. The garage was empty. The only thing that was still moving in this room was the centrifuge Suresh – no, Sylar – had put on the table. It was still running, uselessly shaking Wielands blood sample.


	14. Back In The Game

**Back in the Game**

Why did he oversleep again? It was already bright outside. He didn´t understand why this happened so often lately. What was the matter with …? Mohinder sat bolt upright when he remembered what had happened. He swung his legs off the bed and rushed out, into the room next to his. It wasn´t that he´d really expected Sylar to be there, but on some level he´d needed to see it with his own eyes. Now that he was there, standing in that abandoned room, knowing that it hadn´t been a dream, his only conscious thought was: failed. He´d failed to keep the monster contained and even worse he´d failed to stop it when it was really called for. Sylar was out there again, killing innocents and he´d done nothing to prevent that.

Immediately he was back in his own room, looking around. His cell phone was nowhere in sight. But the syringe with the remedy was lying on the table. It was still intact.

For a moment Mohinder wondered why, but then he dismissed the question and hurried out again. There were more urgent things he had to take care of. His target was the payphone downstairs. Thanks god he had Noah´s number memorized. His head was spinning from the anxiety while he listened to the rings. Two. Three.

"Bennet?" the Company man answered.

"Noah!" Mohinder cried. "It´s Sylar. He knocked me out. I´m still at the motel."

After he´d said that, the line was disconnected. But Mohinder could imagine quite well what was happening now. He could only hope that he hadn´t been too late to warn them.

For a moment he looked around helplessly. What should he do now? There was nothing he could do. Sylar was at the house of Shawn Spencer´s father. They all were there, probably fighting Sylar in this very moment. They were there and he was here. With no car to get there. Sylar had taken his cab.

Mohinder cursed. He turned back to the payphone and noticed that he was still holding the handset, clenching it so strong that the plastic already started to creak. Quickly he released the innocent phone and put it back in the cradle. His hand remained on it though. He looked around one more time and then, after cursing a few more times over that ridiculous joke of fate, he took the phone again to call himself a taxi. After he´d done that he tried Noah´s number again, praying this time that he would get an answer, that Noah was still alive and able to answer his call. His prayer was heard. He got an answer after the second ring.

"What happened?" he asked Noah, already guessing the worst.

"He´s gone." Noah told him. "They´re both gone."

Mohinder closed his eyes for a moment, partly out of desperation because he´d been too late to save the person with the ability, partly out of relief to hear that no one else had been hurt.

"I´m on my way to you." he said at last and as if he´d heard him, the taxi driver pulled into the parking lot.

**...**

At Henry´s place Noah closed his cell phone. He was looking straight ahead but his thoughts were heading in three different directions at once. He made himself focus and think about the most important thing first.

"We need to change our plan." he told them all. "We don´t know what Sylar will do after he killed Wieland and took his power. Wieland might not be in control of it but Sylar will figure that out in no time. We need to find and stop him before he opens a black hole that can swallow half of Santa Barbara. Some of us need to go to C.E.R.N. however."

"I´ll go." Gus cried at once.

"Dude." Shawn cried too. "Why am I not surprised?"

"I can help in there." Gus explained his decision. "I know about technical devices like that. I studied all the public databases of …"

"I´m sure it has nothing to do with the fact that C.E.R.N. is a few miles away from Santa Barbara and this black hole that is heading here." Shawn talked over him.

"You wanna say I´m a coward?" Gus stood up.

"That can hardly be the reason." Bennet chipped in as calm as possible. "The LHC will be highly secured. If you should be detected they will possibly open fire on you."

Gus´ mouth dropped open at this. "What?"

"That´s why you shouldn´t go there alone." Bennet nodded at them both. "Shawn."

"Wow, wait." the fake psychic held up both hands. "I´ll help you find Sylar." he exchanged a glance with Juliet.

"No, you won´t." Bennet denied before Lassiter or Henry even had a chance to say anything. "You are not a cop." he stated matter of factly.

"Neither are you." Shawn countered.

"He´s more a cop than you are, Spencer." Lassiter spoke up now.

"We´ll take care of Sylar." Bennet assured, his eyes never leaving Shawn´s. "You guys need to take care of the world."

That argument finally seemed to get through to Shawn. He exchanged an uncertain glance with Gus as if he wanted to ask him for his opinion before he decided. His friend didn´t say anything, but that wasn´t even necessary. When Shawn faced Noah again, his uncertainty was almost completely gone. He nodded in hesitant agreement. Noah was absolutely satisfied and mirrored the nod.

"I´ll go with you too." Henry announced and stepped forward. "I won´t let you go in there without backup."

"But I can´t transport too many people at once." Hiro stated overwhelmed with all those decisions that had been made within only one minute.

"You can." Henry dismissed the argument. "Just concentrate and get a grip." After a few seconds of thinking he added: "I´ll get my gun." and was gone.

"Don´t take it personally." Shawn told the totally baffled Hiro. "That´s just his way to show that he likes you."

Hiro nodded, still very much uncertain.

"All right, the rest of us will head out to chase Sylar." Bennet addressed the whole group again.

"How do we find him?" Juliet wanted to know.

"Don´t worry." Noah said. "He took Suresh´s cab that means I can trace him. Excuse me for a second. I need to get my computer out of my car."

**...**

In another part of the city, a taxi that was registered under the name of a Mohinder Suresh pulled over and stopped at the curbside of a small and barely used street. The engine was killed and then the lights went out.

"All right, this place should do." the driver, who looked and sounded exactly like Mohinder Suresh but wasn´t, said.

"I sure hope so." Frank Wieland said next to him. "We drove long enough to find it."

Sylar/Suresh threw him a glance and smirked. Without another word the two of them got out. The place was neat and isolated. There were still houses in the distance but they were too far away to concern the killer in disguise. Before them there was the ocean, a good two hundred feet beneath the cliff that wasn´t even secured by a railing. The street they´d taken to get here had some lights but ahead it was dark. As dark as the full moon allowed it to be. Trees lined the green area, creating a park like look. The perfect place for what Sylar had in mind.

"You know what I just realized?" Frank Wieland spoke up again. "We just went away without telling anyone. Shouldn´t we let them know where we are before they call the police on us?"

Sylar/Mohinder looked at Frank blankly for a moment. But then he smiled and lowered his eyes humbly as if he was embarrassed. "You´re absolutely right." he said. "I´m so sorry, but sometimes when I´m focused on my studies …"

"Never mind, doctor." Frank shrugged. "I forgot it too. But I really think we should tell them. They´ll be worried."

"I´ll give them a call." Sylar/Mohinder said and took the cell phone out. He pretended to look for the right number for a moment, and eventually pushed the button for silencing the alarm. He waited a few seconds for good measure and then started to talk into the silent phone.

"Yeah, Noah, it´s me." he said. "Yeah, I know, I´m sorry. No no, everything is fine. Dr. Wieland and I set out for another test. Don´t worry, we´re fine. We´ll be back as soon as we´re done. … We´ll be careful." To add a little more finesse to this fake call, he added: "Oh, could you take the blood sample out of the centrifuge? I totally forgot it. No, just set it aside. I take care of it when we´re back. Thank you."

With that he hung up – or pretended to. Wieland seemed convinced about his act. Enough to look around the place instead of watching him, making the call. There was obviously no suspicion on his side. Sylar threw the cell phone into the passenger seat. He wouldn´t need it anymore.

Frank was shaking his head, his gaze somewhere ahead, probably examining the cliff side that was ought to serve them as a test area.

"I can´t tell you how much I´m freaked out." he told Sylar. "I mean yesterday I was just a normal guy, visiting my sister and today … look at me. I´m a freak."

"You shouldn´t see it that way." Sylar/Mohinder said. "You have an ability, that´s nothing to be ashamed of." Not knowing why, he added: "It would be like denying you have brown eyes."

Frank looked at him uncertain for a moment but then smiled gratefully. "That´s easy for you to say." he said. "You don´t have something like that."

"As a matter of fact I have." Sylar/Mohinder revealed frankly. "Noah didn´t tell you? No, of course, I guess there was no time."

"What is it you have?" Frank asked, curious.

Sylar played with various possibilities of what he could answer. Should he name Mohinder´s power – superhuman muscularity and athletic reflexes? Or should he better go for one of his own, since he didn´t have that one – yet. The telekinesis was always the easiest to demonstrate. But in the end he decided against all these and – he didn´t know exactly why – went for the truth.

"I have the ability to understand how things work."

Frank raised both eyebrows in astonishment. "That´s an ability?" he asked and when the other man assured him that, indeed it was, he meant: "That´s sure helpful for a scientist." After a musing look at the Indian geneticist, he asked: "Did you become a scientist because of that ability?"

For a moment Sylar was baffled by that question, the mere possibility of this idea.

"This ability made me what I am, that´t true." he said.

"I guess that´s something we have in common then." Frank replied.

"How so?"

Again Frank shook his head, thinking. "I never realized that before." he said. "But … this fascination about everything that´s related to the dark … I felt attached to that all my life. Other than my classmates at school. I loved to read horror stories for example. Stephen King was my absolute favorite. Everybody called me abnormal because I liked that stuff. But I was okay with that you see. Somehow it made me special."

Something happened in the face of the Indian scientist in this moment, something Frank couldn´t quite grip because it was too subtle. But he seemed to have hit a nerve there. But Mohinder didn´t say anything, so he just went on.

"This love for the dark things was the reason why I was so interested in physics." he told him. "I wanted to understand the functions of light and shadow. How … it all worked." he gave the Indian a smile. "And when I heard about the ATLAS-Project … I just had to be a part of it. You understand?"

"I understand you better than you might think." was the answer and as kind as the words were, somehow it sounded strange in Frank´s ears. Was the wind colder out here at the cliffs? He had goosebumps all over his arms all the sudden.

The Indian seemed to realize that he´d been staring at Frank and lowered his eyes. Frank couldn´t say that he wasn´t grateful for that. Another strange thing he´d noticed within the last few minutes. The gentle and kind eyes of this man, he´d first met as a taxi driver that had been troubled by something, seemed to be different now. He couldn´t say how but there was something new in them. Something he couldn´t name but it fed into his already creeped out mood.

"Did you ever notice that you could do more than just feel attached to the shadow?" Mohinder asked him now. "Say, control it perhaps?"

"You think that could be possible?" Frank was even closer to the feeling of real fear now. But another part of his mind, that scared him at least as much as the whole situation, was also curious.

"We could find out." Mohinder said and led him back to the car. He leaned through the window and switched on the headlights.

"Concentrate." he told Frank.

He didn´t need to explain to him what he wanted him to try. Frank started to move his hand through the light all on his own, almost automatically. First it was just a hand that broke the light. But after he´d done it a few times, his eyes constantly fixed on the shadow his hand cast, something seemed to change. The shadow seemed to waver around his hand like smoke. Only that it was much thicker than smoke. It followed his movements like in a film when the picture ran in slow motion and with some optic trick you saw the arm in a faded version following behind the original. Only that this was no film and what he saw was no slow motion trick. It was the shadow that had separated itself from his arm. Frank halted when he realized this. For a few heartbeats he just stared at it. And then his brain switched back into gear and he jumped up, away from the car in fear.

His eyes were still fixed on the headlight that was now looking completely normal again. He shook his head and wiping his face turned around so he wouldn´t have to look at it anymore.

"Was mach ich hier?" he mumbled to himself.

"No reason to be scared." Mohinder told him. "You did good, Frank."

"That´s not what I mean." Frank said, facing the other scientist again. "What are we doing? Enhancing my … ability? But shouldn´t we do the exact opposite? This man from the future said I would cause an apocalypse."

"That is exactly the reason why we should study and train your control over that ability." Mohinder told him eagerly. "To understand it and to stop it from happening." He padded his shoulder reassuringly. "Okay?"

Frank looked at him. He was sure the smile was supposed to ease him but somehow it missed the mark. Instead it made him feel even worse.

"All right." he said anyway and swallowed the bad feeling. At least he tried to. "Maybe you´re right." he said and threw a casual look upwards at the moon. "And maybe we should hurry. There´s a total eclipse tonight." he mentioned.

"A what?" Mohinder cried, paling a little.

"A total lunar eclipse." Frank told him confused. "It´s supposed to start around … two in the morning, I believe. I mean I know that stories about vampires and werewolfs are just stories but … I think the idea of a planet that is at least partly without any form of light, while something like this is going on …" Again the doctor was paling. "What is it?" Frank asked concerned. "Doctor Suresh?"

But the other man didn´t hear him. He was deeply within his own mind.

He´d started to understand. From one moment to the other Sylar just knew how this power worked. He looked up at the moon in shock, feeling the same mix of fear and fascination, Frank had felt earlier. He looked at the Swiss and just knew that his guess was true. Again his eyes jumped up to the moon. It was unbelievable.

"You start to freak me out right now." Frank said next to him. "Would you please talk to me?"

"I know it." Sylar breathed with Mohinder´s voice. "I know how it will happen." he looked at Frank, who looked right back at him. His eyes, as scared as they were, asked him for an explanation. But the same time they begged him not to say it, because he just knew that it would be too awful to stand.

"You just said it." Sylar kept talking nevertheless. "The earth will be without light tonight. And the black holes that are already breaking through all the time, will be able to rip open the … the fabric of our universe. Because there won´t be any light to hold them off." he looked into the distance, thinking this over and shook his head. "But that´s not enough." he found. "Not nearly enough for … this. To really create a catastrophe like Hiro described it, it would need another part. A catalyst of some sort."

"Oh, my god." Frank breathed, now feeling really sick. "The LHC."

"The what?"

"The Large Hadron Collidor. The particle accelerator at C.E.R.N. The device we used to study the existence of black holes. So far the occurrences of the black holes were mere side effects of the colliding protons. But recently we decided to take the experiment to the next level and try to create one on purpose. Since then the LHC runs on a much higher energy level. The experiment started a few weeks before I went here to visit my sister." He wiped his face again. "Oh, dammit. Is that the reason why all these black holes have started to open around me lately?" But it wasn´t really a question anymore. "Oh, my god." he mumbled. "Oh, my god. It really was me. We have to do something to stop it."

"I´m afraid there is nothing you can do." Mohinder said in a strange tone. Frank stared at him and felt once again that there was something in the eyes of this man that shouldn´t be there.

"But …" he started only to be interrupted by Mohinder once again.

"You see, it´s not the LHC." the Indian told him. "It´s you. You are the catalyst. The eclipse will happen tonight and then the darkness will swap over into our world, ripping open the mere fabric of it. It will happen right here … because you are here."

Frank didn´t know what to say. He wanted to scream but he was not able to even wine in this moment, facing these, yeah, creepy eyes of the Indian geneticist. Mohinder looked at him with a glowing in his eyes, Frank didn´t understand at all. And after another moment, he looked up at the moon again. So fascinated and entranced.

"Two worlds will collide." he said almost dreamy. "The world of darkness and our world. They will collide and create a completely new world. A world with a completely new kind of life in it."

For the first time, Frank realized that the accent of the Indian had vanished. But that was nothing compared to the words he was hearing from this man. What was he talking about? Did he really mean what he said? Frank started to skip away from him without even noticing it. Mohinder didn´t seem to notice either. He was still too much entranced with this new idea about colliding worlds.

Frank noticed something in the corner of his eye. A blinking light, coming from inside the taxi and without any reason at all, he went over to it, to check it out. His mind had somehow changed to autopilot. Otherwise he might have gone mad by now. He reached the passenger side and spotted Mohinder´s cell phone, trying to tell its owner that a call was coming in. The ring tone must be put on silent.

Frank reached into the car and got the phone out. Mohinder was still busy staring at the moon, so Frank took the call for him, again acting purely on automatic. Before he could say hello though, he had a very excited Mohinder Suresh in the line.

"Sylar!" he cried. "Where are you!? What did you do with Dr. Wieland?"

Frank frowned. "This _is_ Dr. Wieland." he informed the caller. "Who´s this? Is this a joke?"

Mohinder turned around to him, startled. He looked as if he just woke up from a dream.

"Dr. Wieland, I´m Mohinder Suresh." the caller told Frank now with his full accent again. "The Dr. Suresh you met is a fake. He´s a murderer. If he´s still near you, you must run, or he´ll kill you."

In this moment the Dr. Suresh before him, started to lunge for him and Frank, acting on pure instinct again, tried to bolt. He didn´t come very far though. Something raised him off the ground and he flew a few feet before he landed on the gratefully soft grass. He lost the cell phone and it vanished out of his sight.

Frank groaned when his back protested against this treatment. But the pain had at least one advantage. It brought his mind back to its normal function. He turned around and faced the man that he´d assumed to be Mohinder Suresh until a few moments ago.

"Seems you have more than just one ability." he heard himself say.

The man over him chuckled. "After a few years you have dozens of them, if you want it or not." he said.

"Who are you?" Frank asked him. Again there was this strange look in the eyes of this Indian man and what happened next just threw Frank off for good. The face he saw was melting. It floated for a moment and then it just changed. A moment later he was not looking at an Indian man any longer but at a pale man with dark eyes, that looked down on him like a cat on the caught but still very lively mouse.

"Großer Gott!" Frank breathed, not knowing where he got the strength to even speak. "What the hell are you?"

"They called me many things over the years." the other man said. "Insane. Murderer. Psychopath. Monster. You may pick what you like best."

Frank just stared at this smiling face. It hovered over him like a human version of the full moon that was shone in the sky behind him. And he just didn´t know what to say. The man – Sylar the real Mohinder had called him – seemed to know that and his smile increased. He went down to his hunches beside him. Frank pressed himself a little deeper into the grass as a compensation for a real run. When Sylar raised his hand, he flinched but the punch he´d expected didn´t come. Instead Sylar just touched his shoulder with one hand, holding out his other hand, palm facing the sky as if he was carrying an invisible plate. His eyes were closed and he was smiling.

"I for myself like to call me a collector." he said after he´d opened his eyes again. "Look what you gave to me." In this moment there was something happening with his hand. The shadow it cast started to move and wound itself around Sylar´s wrist like a snake. It remained there for a moment and then went back into its original place. Sylar´s eyes were glowing.

"You have no idea how much power you had in you all your life." he told Frank. "I don´t know its full potential yet either … but soon I will."

"Wirst du …?" Frank swallowed when he realized that he´d used the wrong language again. "Are you gonna kill me?" he brought out.

The smile on Sylar´s face slowly decreased and was replaced by an expression of puzzlement. He frowned and there was actually something like anger in his eyes. Maybe even disgust. Frank wasn´t sure. He only felt that the man over him was confused. Not about Frank´s question. About himself. He looked Frank over for a moment, and the expression of disgust became more visible, as if he loathed Frank all the sudden for what he´d said. And then he just got up and took a step back, as if to flee a bad stench. Frank looked after him, even dared to sit up.

"Get lost." Sylar told him, his voice hard. "You don´t have anything that I want anymore."

Frank stared at him in disbelieve but slowly got up from the ground. Still he didn´t know what to do. What if it was a trick? If he only wanted him to turn around so he could shoot him in the back or do whatever he wanted to do to kill him?

Sylar stared at him with sharp and dangerous eyes. "Go." he demanded, his voice so low. "Before I change my mind."

That finally made Frank dismiss his useless considerations and he swirled around and just ran for it. And it was good that he ran, because if he´d stayed Sylar might have changed his mind again after all. There was something about this new power that drowned out everything else, every doubt, every regret, even his own inner voice, the voice that had told him that he didn´t want to be a killer anymore for so many weeks. Now it was silenced and replaced by something so much stronger. Something that was intriguing, tempting … seducing.

Sylar turned to the trees that were growing along the promenade. A path that used to be crowded with people in the daylight. Now it was dark and empty. Empty except for the shadows that were cast by the trees, taking turns with the light of the street lamps. Sylar held out his hand for these shadows and called them, in his mind.

Slowly they started to move, first sluggishly but more and more smooth. Sylar made it wander over the light cone of the lamp until it was covered with darkness. He smiled and looked up at the lamp itself. It was still shining. Only there was no light at its base anymore.

Sylar wondered if he could cover the lamp itself too and tried it. The shadow followed his demand willingly until the lamp´s head was covered with shadows. In the darkness that was now all around this spot, Sylar smiled satisfied over this successful result. He held the shadow in place, drinking in what he´d managed, the overwhelming feeling of this new power. It was exhilarating.

Under the unnaturally bowed shadow, the light bulb of the street lamp exploded and sent tiny pieces of glass raining down to the ground.


	15. Splitting Up

**Splitting Up**

He´d been out only a few seconds. That was at least how it felt for Juliet, when Bennet stormed back into the house, his laptop under his arm while all these other preparations were happening. Was time running faster? With a time traveler in the same room, she didn´t think that was too far off to consider. But then again she only needed to throw a look at Shawn and Gus to know that it was not like that. The two of them needed to be rushed by Henry to finally get a good hold of their bulletproof vests. He´d brought them along with his gun. Since the incident with Sylar he´d kept them in the house, he´d said, just in case there should be a situation. And one could say that there was one now.

Eventually they all had their shirts back on and the vests were covered. On the table, Bennet´s computer made a sound, demanding the access code. Bennet entered it. After that was done, he looked at the four men asking.

"Well?"

"We´re ready." Henry assured him.

"All right. Stay in contact. You´ve got my number."

"Sure thing."

Bennet nodded again. "Okay, then set off."

"Wait." Juliet cried and jumped over to Shawn. For some reason she suddenly felt as if this was the last chance for her to say … well, whatever there was to say.

"Make it short." Bennet demanded. "We don´t have much time." With that he just went back to his computer.

Juliet faced Shawn and for a moment actually struggled for words. "Just be careful." she said at last.

"And you too." he replied. "You are the one chasing a supernatural gifted serial killer. I´m just breaking into a highly secured and top secret government building to save the world. So … you´ll be careful, okay?"

Juliet tried to suppress a smile even though she wasn´t sure if she should laugh or cry. Especially since Shawn´s face was so serious all the sudden.

"Promise." he demanded from her.

"I promise." she said.

He nodded. "Okay. I´ll hold you to that."

Juliet bit her lip, now a hundred percent sure that she wanted to cry. Instead of doing so she grabbed Shawn´s face and kissed him. She didn´t want to believe, not even consider the possibility that this might be the last time they saw each other, but this situation felt too much like a goodbye, that she couldn´t stop the single tear that escaped her eye and rolled down her cheek. Shawn saw it and wiped it away with one of his typical joyful smiles.

"All right." Bennet spoke up again and Juliet noticed with uneasiness that he´d been watching them. "Time to go." he told them now.

"On the way." Shawn replied, now all serious again. He kissed Juliet one last time and after a quiet "See you soon", he joined Gus and his father. And with Hiro Nakamura, the time traveler and doomsayer, that had come back here to save the world.

Now they all were ought to save the world. But they wouldn´t do it together. They´d do it separated, and unable to help each other in case of trouble. Juliet needed all her inner strength and willpower to keep herself from jumping over to them and cry out that she would come too, ignoring what they´d agreed about earlier.

It was the hardest thing she ever had to do, but she managed it to stand still and simply watch. To let them go. To let Shawn go.

"So how is this gonna work?" Henry asked Hiro. "You gonna _beam us over there_ or what?"

Hiro nodded. "We all need to touch." he said and lay a hand on Gus´ arm. "Like this."

Henry took Gus´ other arm and then he reached for his son´s shoulder. He gave Hiro an asking face and the little Japanese nodded again.

"Good luck." Bennet said from behind his computer. They all looked at him one last time. Hiro smiled, and shoved his glasses back up his nose, in a somehow determined manner. Then he squeezed his eyes shut tightly.

Juliet wanted to look at Shawn before they were gone but the facial expression of Hiro was so distracting her that she forgot about Shawn for a moment. And then they were just gone. From one moment to the other the four people that had been standing there vanished into thin air. Juliet gasped.

"Son of a bitch." Lassiter mumbled.

"You get used to it after a few years." Bennet commented.

In this moment, as if to mock his words, it knocked on the door and they all jumped, Lassiter and Bennet pulling their guns on pure instinct.

"Sylar wouldn´t knock, would he?" the detective asked.

"You never know." the Company man replied. He threw one last checking glance at his computer and then headed for the door, Lassiter and Juliet right behind him, both of them with their guns drawn.

Bennet peeked outside from behind the curtain. "It´s Suresh." he whispered.

"That´s what we thought last time." Lassiter recalled, never lowering his gun.

Juliet took out the dog whistle Shawn had given to her. Seems he´d been right once again, when he´d said she would need it very soon. Bennet gave her an approving nod and then opened the door. While the two men kept their guns ready, Juliet blew the inaudible whistle. The Indian looked at them with confused eyes and raised his hands, facing the three guns.

"It´s me." he assured them.

Bennet kept his eyes on him for a while and then looked back at Juliet to make sure she was still whistling. At last he lowered his gun.

"Seems that you are." he commented. "Sorry, doctor."

"It´s all right." Suresh said, stepping in. "I´m surprised I didn´t expect that reaction." He greeted Juliet and Lassiter with a polite but brief nod. "I came here as fast as I could."

"How did you come here?" Bennet asked, holstering his gun.

Suresh made an annoyed face. "I took a taxi." he told him.

Bennet gave him a sympathetic smile and nodded. "Speaking of which." he then said and walked back into the living room, to his computer.

"Good, it´s ready." he said, more to himself than to any of them, and started to work.

"What are you doing?" Suresh wanted to know.

"Tracing Sylar." Bennet answered, still fully concentrated on his computer screen.

"How?"

"I put a tracker on your taxi some time ago."

"You did what?"

"In case we should ever be in a need to find out where you are." Bennet nodded, totally ignoring the scandalized tone of the scientist. "Guess it comes in handy now."

"Good precautions." Lassiter praised, almost proudly.

Bennet typed in a few codes and then waited until his computer showed him what he wanted to see. When it came up, he smiled. "There he is." he said. "Near the cliffs."

"Then let´s go there." Lassiter was already turning to the door.

"Not so fast." Bennet called him back. "The problem is … we don´t know if Sylar is still near the cab. It doesn´t move. He could have abandoned it. When we go there and he´s gone, we lose a lot of precious time."

"What do you suggest?" Juliet asked.

"We should split." Bennet said. "Carlton and I, we check the taxi. Mohinder, you and Juliet should go to your motel. Sylar is twisted enough to go back there."

"What if we don´t find him there?" Suresh wanted to know.

"Then you have to think of something else." Bennet frankly admitted that he didn´t know much more than he did. "But first check the motel." he asked him nonetheless. "We call if there is any change."

Mohinder nodded in his lack of any other option. "All right."

"Then let´s do it." Bennet said and picked up his laptop. "And let´s hope that he´s in one of these two places."

**...**

It was a field they appeared at, only a second after they´d been in his dad´s living room. But then Shawn realized that it was bright daylight, shining down on this admittedly amazing landscape of mountains and green fields, and he gasped.

"Wow. What the hell?" he cried. "How long have we been on the way? We lost at least ten hours."

"We didn´t lose any time." Hiro assured him. "Only a few seconds."

"Are you kidding, dude?" Shawn kept crying. "The sun´s up and it´s almost lunchtime."

"It´s not lunchtime, Shawn." Henry argued just when Hiro opened his mouth. "The sun is standing in the east." he told his son. "It´s forenoon. Don´t you remember what I taught you?"

"Still bad enough." Shawn insisted. "It was midnight when we left." he showed his wristwatch to underline his statement.

"We´re in Switzerland now, Shawn." Gus lectured him, before Hiro had a chance to explain the mistake. "That´s halfway around the world. Nine hours later."

"So you mean it´s now …" Shawn looked at his watch again but couldn´t quite figure out how to count the hours.

"Doesn´t matter." Henry interrupted, cutting Hiro off once again. He pointed ahead. There was a complex of buildings ahead. A round construction was to be seen that looked like an observatory and somewhere in the background there was a tower that looked like an oversized popsicle.

"That it?" Henry asked. "You sure? Looks more like a town. Shouldn´t there be fences and guards patrolling before it?"

"No, that´s it." Gus assured him. "C.E.R.N. is not like Area 51. It´s more like a town. All the scientists live there and they have a hospital and even a cinema and other recreational stuff. There is a museum and tourist groups visit the area on a regularly. It´s an open and independent international scientific institution."

"All right." Henry said but looked at him as if he´d talked in a foreign language. "Good, whatever."

"I think that´s the place we need to go to." Hiro pointed at a building in the front. "Bennet said the elevator is in there."

"Then let´s go." was Henry´s only comment. He single-handedly shoved them all back together so Hiro could bring them in. The Japanese squeezed his eyes shut and a moment later they were not on the field anymore, regarding the amazing landscape of the Swiss Alps but inside of a building with high walls and big windows.

"Oh, god." Gus groaned and held his stomach. "I feel as if I ate styrofoam."

"Travel Sickness." Hiro nodded.

"What? Dude, we didn´t even fly." Shawn added for consideration. "Or drive or … anything."

"But we just skipped nine time zones, Shawn. The metabolism reacts to that."

"Get a grip." Henry grumbled. He tapped Hiro´s shoulder and then pointed ahead. "That the elevator we´re looking for?"

Hiro´s features lit up and he hurried over to it. After he´d had a good look at it he turned back to Henry with a happy face and made a quick bow. Henry raised his brows, uncertain. But Hiro had already turned back to the elevator.

"Now we can fulfill our mission." he said solemnly and pushed the button to call the elevator. Or better he tried to. The plate didn´t give in like it should and there was no elevator coming either. Henry threw Hiro a glance. The poor guy didn´t know anything else to do but to push the button again. Of course with the same result.

"Maybe it´s a special system." he guessed and faced the panel again with a concentrated frown. "There must be a trick or something."

"Great." Henry groaned.

"That thing is security locked." Gus stated. "See? That´s a special plate to scan or something like that."

"Scan what?" Shawn wanted to know.

"I don´t know, Shawn. I´m just saying. We need special stuff to make it work."

"Stuff that we obviously don´t have."

"That´s not my fault."

"Maybe there´s another way." Hiro mused aloud to end the argument.

"That thing we´re looking for is a hundred feet under the earth." Henry said gruffly, dismissing the idea as impossible.

"Right." Hiro agreed disappointed. "Bennet said that the elevator leads down directly to the machine." he recalled.

"I still don´t get what this thing is any good for anyway." Shawn shook his head, while Henry tried to fiddle with the panel of the elevator. "I mean why did they build it in the first place?"

"It´s a particle accelerator, Shawn." Gus lectured him not to question things he didn´t understand.

"That´s what I mean. Why should anyone want to accelerate a particle? I mean …"

"To study the fundamental parts of nature and life itself." Gus answered without hesitation.

"Oh, no. Please don´t tell me that you know about that stuff."

"I do, Shawn. Because it´s interesting and very important science." Gus stated, skillfully ignoring Shawn´s blank face. "The LHC is a huge metallic pipe in which subatomic particles get accelerated." he explained stubbornly. "Heavy magnets all along this pipe are switched on and off constantly to keep them moving and accelerate them even more until they are flying almost lightspeed."

"What the …?"

"When two particles that fly in opposite directions collide at that speed, they dismantle each other." Gus went on, determined to finish his speech. "And that´s why they do that, Shawn. To study those elements."

"Or … to see if the collision creates a black hole." Shawn argued.

"Particle accelerators are of value meaning for the science of the future." Gus insisted.

"Well, it was the future that brought us here. How does that fit in?

"Would you guys stop that?" Henry hissed at them. "You´re giving me a headache."

"Can I help you with something?" a voice with a funny accent spoke up and startled them all. A man in a lab coat was standing behind them, looking at them with curious eyes. He was in his fifties, had a long nose, heavy bags under his eyes and thick gray hair. His name tag read Dr. Rudi Van der Meer.

"Ehm, yes." Shawn said. "In a matter of fact you could. This elevator doesn´t seem to like us today."

"Doesn´t it take your security card?" Dr. Van der Meer asked.

"Well …" Shawn had to restrain himself from asking the guy if he had a potato in his mouth. Why was he mumbling like that? Gus, who obviously guessed something, pushed him in the side.

"But it should." the doctor said with a frown, unaware of the brief banter that had just happened. "Let me try."

He got a white plastic card out and held it in front of the little metallic plate. A green light came up and the doors of the elevator went open. "See?" he said. "I don´t understand why your card didn´t work. Is it damaged? But all four? Strange."

"Yeah." Shawn agreed and passed the guy to get into the elevator. "We´ll let someone check it. Thanks, pal."

"Wait." Dr. Van der Meer stopped Henry from entering the elevator. "If your cards don´t work you won´t get back up. You should let it check at once."

"I´m afraid we don´t have the time." Henry told him.

"Why? What´s so urgent?"

"The LHC." Gus answered. "We are assigned to check the system immediately."

"Is something wrong?" Van der Meer asked concerned.

"That´s what we are about to find out." Henry replied. "So would you mind?"

"I´m sorry but I don´t seem to remember your name Dr. …"

"Spencer." Henry answered at once.

"And what is your field again?"

Henry looked helplessly at Gus.

"Quantum Technology." Gus answered smoothly. "Like all of us."

"Quantum Mechanics has nothing to do with the engine of the LHC. I´m sorry, would you show me your cards please? The ones that wouldn´t open this elevator."

"All right. That´s enough." Henry said and pulled his gun. "Sorry, but we don´t have the time for this."

Van Der Meer gasped and raised his arms.

"You have a card that works." Henry said. "Would you mind borrowing it to us?"

"I …"

"Hand it over."

Van der Meer obeyed. "Are you terrorists?" he asked, his accent stronger than ever.

"No. Just some concerned citizens of the good old planet earth." Shawn said.

"That kinda sounds like something a terrorist might say." Gus mentioned.

"You think so?"

"Well …"

"Shut up and get in." Henry barked. He waved for Van der Meer. "You too, doctor. We can´t have you set off an alarm before we´re …" done, he´d been about to say, but in this moment there already was an alarm. They all looked around shocked, until Shawn spotted the surveillance camera under the very high ceiling. Behind them the elevator made a sound and then the engines went down.

"Oh, no." Hiro cried, pushing buttons without causing any result. "It´s dead. We can´t get down with it anymore."

"Dammit!" Henry shouted.

In the distance they heard footsteps approach. Lots of footsteps. Van der Meer used the distraction to run for it. He was surprisingly fast for a guy his age. A few seconds and was gone.

"Dammit." Henry cursed one more time.

"We should do the same." Shawn suggested and Gus immediately took this idea to action. He was running down the hallway at least as fast as Van der Meer had done it. The three of them couldn´t do anything but hurry to catch up with him.

"We need to find a way to get down to the black hole machine." Hiro cried while running full speed.

"If you have an idea, I´m all ears." Shawn cried back, still focusing on catching Gus.

"Hey, what is that sound?" Gus now asked and looked around the hallway.

"What sound?" Shawn asked back but in this moment he already heard it himself. A deep rumbling. The many certifications and gratifications that decorated the walls, were vibrating softly. They all looked around in confusion, barely slowing down. They couldn´t see anything.

Behind them they heard the shouting of the security guards. Gus speed up again but then he passed a big window and he stopped abruptly. Shawn ran right into him and almost Henry too.

"What the hell?" the older Spencer cried.

"Oh, my god." Gus breathed. "That´s the free fall shaft."

"The what? Dude there are guys with guns after us."

"No, you don´t understand." Gus held them back. "That´s a way down. You see?" he went to the window and looked down. "It goes all the way down. If we can get down there … there´s a door down there." he cried excited.

"How are we supposed to get down there?" Shawn cried, looking into this big and very empty shaft behind the window. There was no ladder in the wall and no elevators or anything that would lead down there. Only the air. "This is not mission impossible." he cried.

"I can bring us there." Hiro said and was about to touch their arms when the first shots were ringing out. Hiro flinched. So did Shawn and Gus and Henry too. The glass behind them shattered and the droning sound they´d heard before became a roaring noise. Wind was blowing out to them as if a tornado was going on in that shaft. When Hiro was hit by another bullet – gratefully in his vest – he was thrown forward and stumbled right over the edge.

Before anyone had a chance to realize what was going on, more bullets were raining down on them. Shawn screamed when he was hit first in his right arm and then in his left. Next to him Gus screamed even louder and Henry cried out as well.

"Jump."

"What?" Shawn shrieked. "Are you crazy?"

But Henry just grabbed his son´s and Gus´ arms and shoved them over the edge. And then they just fell. The two of them screamed. Shawn closed his eyes and waited for the impact. But after he´d been swirled around a few times and was still not smashed on the ground, he dared to open them again. When he realized that he was still floating, he shrieked once again. But then he realized that he was not flying on his own. It was the artificially created wind in this shaft that carried him. He looked around for Gus and his dad and they were floating up and down as well, trying to keep their balance somehow and failing.

"Woohoooo!" Shawn shouted amazed. "Dude! That is amazing!"

"Are you crazy, Shawn?" Gus yelled back at him but his voice was almost drowned out by the hauling wind. "We just got shot!"

"Ah, yeah, I remember!" Shawn shouted back and immediately felt the pain in his arms again.

The wind was getting lighter all the sudden and at last it went out for good. They all fell down to the ground. It was covered with mats but the impact was hard enough anyway. Shawn cried out in pain when the bullets in his arms demanded not to be forgotten again. He could hear Gus and Henry cry out as well and somewhere he could make out a groan that had to be Hiro.

"Shawn, are you okay?" Henry asked and struggled to his feet.

Shawn looked up at his dad. "Papa." he whined. "I´m hurt. I´m bleeding."

"We all are bleeding, Shawn." Henry replied unimpressed. "They shot at us."

"Please, help me." Shawn kept whining and held out a limp hand as far as his hurting arm allowed it. "Help me, Papa."

A few feet away, Hiro helped Gus to stand up. Shawn could see that Gus preferred one leg, so he´d been probably shot in the other. Above them men were shouting again and they all looked up. "We need to hurry." Henry urged. He took Shawn´s outstretched hand and jerked him up merciless. Shawn screamed.

**...**

Frank Wieland was wandering around aimlessly in the darkness. That had always helped him to get his mind free and now he needed to think about so many things, too many actually to even halfway compute. But somehow he had to get to a conclusion. The world might depend on it.

First he´d thought about going home to his sister, to ask her for her advice. But he´d been too scared to do that. What if he made something happen? If he would cause a black hole to open while he was with her, one of the kind that had swallowed all these people lately? He would never want to see his sister in danger. So he stayed away from her. And maybe that was the only thing that would be a solution of any kind. To stay away. But how could he stay away from the whole world? If it was true what this man Sylar had said, then he would cause the end, no matter where he was.

Frank was still not able to grip what this really meant. He would cause the end of the world? He? He was just a guy from Switzerland. A scientist. A boring guy with a weird affinity for dark fiction and the night in general. How could he be responsible for something like that? But what this Hiro Nakamura guy had said, had sounded convincing enough even for a scientific mind like his. Theoretically these things could really happen. But he should be the reason for that? This was the part that didn´t make sense.

Being out here and all on his own it was tempting to tell himself that the whole thing had been nothing but a crazy idea of some paranoid lunatics. It had all sounded fantastic enough to be a convincing thought. If he would stay out here long enough to calm down and look at it from the right angle, he would make it. He would believe this version of the whole story and maybe after a few hours of walking he would find himself able to go home to Doris and forget that all this ever happened.

Only that he knew he wouldn´t even reach her house. Because something was going to happen before these few hours were over. Something that would not only kill him – most likely it would kill him, no human being survived the encounter with a black hole – but also every other human being that was near him in that moment. And after a while it would kill more and more people, every day in the next few years that were about to come, until this world was a place of coldness and fear. Because all the rules and laws of physics would be torn apart tonight, leaving behind a world that would be totally at the mercy of an elementary chaos.

No, he couldn´t turn away from that truth. Sylar had said his power was it to understand things. In some way, that was Frank´s power too. He didn´t know if it came from that power, Sylar had taken from him or if it was just his good old common sense. But he knew that these things, no matter how crazy they sounded, were actually real and that the end of the world would happen tonight. Because of him. As soon as the moon would darken, because the earth would cut off the sunlight … it was funny. In some way, earth itself would cause the lack of sunlight that would eventually cause its destruction.

Frank shook his head. He needed to stop thinking like a scientist. He was no scientist. Not tonight at least. Right now he was the man who would cause the end of the world. And there was nothing he could do to stop that. As long as he was anywhere on this planet, the catastrophe would happen. And that again meant that he had only one option left. He was a man with a conscience, what meant that he truly had no other choice. How could he live with the knowledge that he was responsible for the deaths of all these people?

The problem was that now he wasn´t the only one anymore, who had this power. Now Sylar had it too. He´d taken it from him and that meant he had doubled the danger for this world. As long as only one of them lived the world would be in danger. And that again meant that Frank had once again only one option. He had no idea if he could do this. He´d never killed any living thing bigger than a fly his entire life. But he had to do it anyway. For the sake of this world they both had to die. And it had to happen before two a.m. this morning.

Frank looked at his watch, feeling the urge in his feet. He still had a few hours. Barley the time to wink. He needed a weapon. And he needed it fast. As soon as he had that, he had to find Sylar … and the strength inside of himself to kill this man and then himself. For the sake of this world´s survival.

Frank Wieland started to run.


	16. Getting Down To It

**Getting Down to it**

It was a tunnel they walked through. Huge as if it was build for two-lane traffic and with cold and even concrete walls. It was dark down here. If it hadn´t been for those fluorescent lamps above their heads they wouldn´t have seen their own steps. They´d thought about taking on vests and to bring a gun but they hadn´t brought any flashlights. Who expected something as dark as this in a place that was supposed to be a hightech laboratory?

The lamps went on while they walked through the tunnel, illuminating their immediate space, obviously controlled by motion detectors. After a while, they went out again, leaving the tunnel behind them in deep darkness. It was like walking through an absolute nothing.

Shawn threw a glance behind and wondered briefly if they would find the same things they´d left behind back there when they walked back. If they would walk back that was.

The air was cold and wet, as if they really walked through a tunnel instead of something that was build with such hightech as this. A hundred feet under the earth Gus had said and Shawn had to admit that he could actually feel those hundred feet above his head. It felt like walking through a catacomb.

He threw another glance over his shoulder, looking at this funny steal pipe that ran along the wall beside them since they´d entered this tunnel. In his inattention he bumped right into Gus.

"Look out, Shawn." he whined angrily and held his hurting leg. "I was shot."

"So was I." Shawn replied, not less whining."And I´m bleeding much more than you do. Two gunshot wounds against one."

"But I was shot in the leg." Gus countered. "It hurts with every step I take."

"And you think my shoulder doesn´t? You have no idea how that feels. It´s like an axe that hits my shoulder every time I make a step."

All the sudden they both got slapped in the back of their heads, simultaneously.

"Don´t be such babies." Henry grumbled. "You got lucky that I had the vests in my house."

"This Mission Impossible thing isn´t half as funny as it looks in cinema." Shawn pouted. He looked at the polished steel construction of the pipe and at his distorted mirror image in threw back at him. God he looked awful. But what was that any good for if no one gave him a little pity?

"What is that?" he asked unmotivated. "A pipeline for gas or something?"

"That´s the LHC, Shawn." Gus told him.

They all stopped and stared at him. "That thing?" Henry asked.

"Didn´t you say that thing is round?" Shawn recalled and looked along the very straight pipe.

"It is." Gus replied. "But it´s so big that we don´t see that it is."

"Big? It has a diameter of about a few feet tops."

"It´s very long." Gus explained. "Forming a perfect circle. What we see here is only the immediate part of it."

"Well." Henry shrugged. "If that is the thing then let´s do what we came for." he said and cocked his gun. Gus jumped forward and cried out when he stepped on his bad leg. Shawn winced in sympathy, hissing air through his teeth.

"No." Gus managed it to cry, one eye squeezed shut against the pain. "That´s too dangerous."

"Why?" Henry asked. "Will it explode?"

"I´m not sure what would happen. But I think it´s saver to look for the control room. We can switch it off from there much saver."

Henry grumbled but gave in at last. They walked on.

"How big is that thing?" Shawn wanted to know.

"It has a diameter of eight kilometers." Gus told him.

"Eight?" Shawn cried in disbelieve.

"Would you stop babbling?" Henry hissed back at them. "I don´t care how big that damn thing is. I just want to put it out."

In the distance they suddenly heard sounds and then all the lights that had gone out behind them and the ones that hadn´t even been on ahead of them, came to life, illuminating the whole tunnel now. The four of them watched how the lights went on one after the other all the way back until they could see the whole tunnel.

"Oh, no." Gus cried. "They´ll arrest us."

"They´ll rather shoot us." Henry corrected.

"Look!" Hiro cried and pointed ahead. There was a door that had been a few dozen feet ahead, where it had been dark before. It seemed to be the only door for what seemed like forever in this endless tunnel. The four of them started to run for it.

"That´s the control room." Henry cheered when they reached it. He was about to grab the door handle but failed. Because there was none. "What a stupid place is this?" he shouted. "How do these guys open their doors? With an Open Sesame?"

Ahead of the corridor they could already see the guards coming closer. Soon they would be close enough to shoot at them. Like very soon.

"The card." Gus cried.

"What?"

"The card you took from that doctor upstairs."

Gus reached into Henry´s pocket and got it out before Henry even knew what he was talking about. He held the card over a silver plate next to the door and a moment later a beeping sound told them that the door was open. Shawn pushed it open and winced when he unintentionally hit his hurt shoulder. He tried to skip away from the door and the pain, but then Gus hurried through the door and almost the same time Henry and Hiro too. Shawn was pushed forward and slammed into the door once again.

For a moment he saw stars and then his vision blackened. He didn´t know how he´d ended up on the ground but when he could see again, he was sitting, leaning against something – probably a wall – and Gus was pressing himself against the door as if to hold it shut. Henry looked at the locking system for a moment but then decided that it would be the best to just smash the damn thing. It spit some sparks but otherwise went down pretty unspectacular. Still it seemed to do the trick. The guards were shouting for them to open up and hit the door in frustration, when they refused to comply.

"All right, that´ll buy us some time." Henry stated and looked around the room. There were several panels and consoles, all of them looking very Japanese and complicated. The elder Spencer sighed frustrated. "I sure hope for you guys that this is the right room." he said.

**...**

The car shot around the bent without any respect for the red streetlight. But fortunately it didn´t have to because of the red and blue lights on the roof of the car. Carlton Lassiter got everything out of the car that he could and his heartbeat was still speeding up. He was pretty sure that Sylar would still be near that taxi cab, no matter what Noah´d said. They would find him there and then … but in this moment he remembered that he´d forgotten about a very important detail of this whole subject.

"Just a quick question." he spoke up, never taking his foot off the accelerator. "What are we gonna do when we find him? I mean I already shot him in the head once. That´s definitely not going to work."

"You´re right." Noah answered, remarkably calm considering Carlton´s sporty driving style. "Sylar can´t be killed the normal way. But …"

"But …?"

The other man gave him a strange look. "There is a substance that can suppress his powers." he explained. "It´s called Glycimerine. We used it in the Company when we had Specials in custody. It did a good job on Sylar back then. I still have some of it."  
>"Where?"<p>

Noah reached into his breast pocket and got out a small etui that looked like a pencil case. He zipped it open and showed Carlton the inside. It was a pencil case but there were no pens in it. Instead there were two syringes, both of them containing a green liquid. Carlton threw a quick glance at it and then a slightly longer one at Noah. The fact that he´d had these with him all the time made Carlton think that maybe the reason why Noah sent Juliet and Suresh someplace else, hadn´t been because he believed that Sylar could have abandoned the taxi.

"If we get a chance to inject him with that, he´ll be powerless." Noah explained now. "At least for a while. Means he won´t be able to use his healing powers. And as you said. Decapitating him should work."

Lassiter looked at the man next to him once again before he had to put his attention back to the street. Without realizing it he´d taken his foot off the accelerator a little.

"You´re really going to do that?" he asked Noah.

"It´s the only way I see to kill him." was the calm reply.

"No, I mean … killing him in the first place."

There was a brief silence before Noah answered him: "The man is a monster, Carlton. And right now he holds the fate of the whole planet in his hands. Tell me what you value more. His life or that of seven billion people."

"It´d be murder." Carlton mentioned, this time not looking at Bennet but quickly checking the rear view mirror and then looking straight ahead at the street again.

"I know." was all Bennet said to that.

"What about your talking about lines that shouldn´t be crossed?" Carlton wanted to know.

Noah threw him a long glance that Carlton could answer only with a brief one of his own, if he didn´t want to crash into another car. But the short moment he saw his eyes told him everything he needed to know.

"Sometimes there are exceptions." Noah said at last and after a while of just staring at him, he added: "Don´t tell me that you would hesitate to kill that man. You already tried that once."

"That was another situation." Carlton argued. "He held my partner hostage back then."

"In some way he´s holding the whole world hostage now." Noah held against it. "If we don´t stop him … it´s the end of the world, Carlton. And we might be the only ones who can stop this from happening."

They drove on in silence for a while.

"Don´t worry." Bennet said reassuringly. "No one will ever know. It will be a justified shot in the line of duty. If we´re quick, it´ll be done before Juliet and Mohinder will even know."

He threw another checking glance at the screen of his computer he was balancing on his lap. Lassiter did the same. The green spot hadn´t moved so far. At least as far as he could tell.

"He´s still there." Noah said, more to himself than to Lassiter. "Still waiting."

Lassiter drove on, not looking at Noah again. He knew what he would see there. But he didn´t know if he could handle it. Not yet. He could only hope that he would come to a conclusion about that before they reached their destination. Because one thing was for sure. He wouldn´t have much time to think about it as soon as they were there.

**...**

The shadows crawled over the ground as if a very weak light source was moving behind the trees. Only that there was no light source except for the moon. The next streetlight was too far away to make any difference around these trees. Still the shadows were moving, following the smallest signal of Sylar´s hand when he demanded that they should come to him and do what he wanted. It was amazing. Something as immaterial as shadows were acting on his demand. It was impossible but it was happening.

He waved his finger and the shadows gathered like a bunch of animals. The more of them he lay over each other in the same place, the darker it got there. Sylar felt his heart speed up. What a power this was. What an ability. What a gift.

He wondered what he might be able to do with it and got an idea. He faced the taxi cab that was standing quietly at the curbside, now in the dark because the streetlight had not survived Sylar´s first experiment. But it was still very visible for everybody who would pass by somewhat around two hundred feet or so from here. He guessed that even a grandmother with glasses as thick as the bottom of a bottle would be able to make out the yellow cab. But what if …?

He ordered the shadows over to the cab and one after the other they followed his demand, gathering around the taxi and slowly surrounding it like a coat of darkness. After a few minutes the area around the cab was so totally dark that Sylar couldn´t see what was behind it. Before that he´d been able to see the lights of the city in the distance. Now it was only dark. The cab itself was hidden.

Under the car, a small device that didn´t belong to the usual features of a common taxi cab, overloaded and ceased function without Sylar even noticing it. A few miles from the place where the taxi stood, Noah Bennet looked at his computer screen and cursed, assuming that Sylar had found the device and destroyed it on purpose.

But Sylar didn´t even think about anything else but what he´d managed to do. The greatest thing was, that this obviously unnatural pocket of darkness he had created, looked so absolutely natural as if it was supposed to be there. As if there was a completely logical reason for the light to not to get through to this small area along this little street, even though there was nothing there that could cast this shadow. It was amazing. He could hide something simply by making it dark around it. How much this ability could come in handy at times.

Mohinder had been wrong. Killing people was not the only thing he knew to do. He could do so much more. This was proof of it. And playing around with this new power was so enlightening and exhilarating. He almost felt like his old self again. What did Mohinder know anyway? He didn´t know him at all. For a while Sylar had believed that he could make this stubborn guy understand, but scientists never understood the simplest things, even when you shouted it into their faces. It had been like that with Mohider´s father already and it was like that with the son too. They just wouldn´t listen. They wouldn´t understand. They wouldn´t even try.

For a moment Sylar felt the guilt rising in his chest, while thinking about the old Suresh. The man he´d killed. The one thing Mohinder had never forgiven him. Of course not. How could he? And how could he ever expect him to do that? It had been his father, for god´s sake. Sylar knew that. But Chandra had left him behind after he´d first given him so much new hope. It had been like getting a beggar out of the ditch to show him the glamor of the world of the rich people and then when he finally believes that he can actually have a piece of it, you throw him back into the dirt where he came from. That was what Sylar had felt when Chandra Suresh had turned away from him, in disgust and fear about the monster he´d created himself. The classical Frankenstein schematic. The monster killed its creator. And not just him.

Sylar turned away from the pocket of created darkness he´d put over Mohinder´s taxi and took some quick and deep breaths. What was he doing? He hadn´t planed to think about these things. He´d come here to test his new ability. That´s what he should do. He turned back to the car and waved his arms in a much bigger way than it would have been necessary, and the shadows abandoned the car like a flock of birds who´d been chased away, rushing back into their original places.

Sylar stared at the taxi with burning eyes. The same kind of taxi in which he´d killed Chandra Suresh. One of dozens of memories he wished out of his head. Why was he cursed to remember those things right now, when he should feel liberated because of such a great new power? It would be so much easier if he could just enjoy the feeling. But these damn memories just wouldn´t leave him in peace. It was as if they´d chosen this moment to haunt him all at once, and merciless, the way only memories connected with guilt could do it. Dammit, he didn´t want to feel that way.

Sylar was about to cover the cab with shadows again so he wouldn´t have to look at it any longer, when he noticed something that made him halt. The car looked different than before. He had to look twice to see why. The roof and hood were glistening. Sylar frowned and approached the car to have a better look. When he saw what it was, he stopped in his tracks startled. It was ice that made the car glisten. The whole car was covered with ice as if it was deepest winter. What the hell?

In this moment another memory came back to him. Something that Bennet and the others had told him (Mohinder) about this future that Hiro Nakamura had seen. They´d said it had been much colder in that future. That these black holes that opened all around the earth in that future had somehow cooled down the world … or rather had taken away the warmth with the cold they´d brought along.

Sylar swirled around and stared up at the moon. For a while he had forgotten about all of this, simply too consumed with this new power, a drawing he could still feel. But now that he remembered it, he couldn´t ignore the facts anymore. He´d taken the power of the man that was drawn to the darkness. Now he was drawing darkness too. The Shawn of the future had claimed that it had been his fault that Juliet and the others were dead, that the world would be destroyed, bit by bit.

Sylar looked down on his own hands and only looking at them made him feel that urge again, that urge to use this power again, to let the darkness consume him and take over, so he could be fully a part of it. Understanding it. God, it was so powerful. So wonderful. So tempting.

Sylar swirled around once again, trying to flee this feeling. He mustn´t allow that. It was so strong. How was it possible that he hadn´t noticed that earlier? If he allowed this to get even stronger … and through him it would have so much more power than it ever would have had through Frank. God, how could he have been so blind? Why did he allow that? He´d allowed exactly what would lead to the destruction, Hiro Nakamura had seen in the future. This had never been his intention. So why had he done it?

_Because that´s what happens when the monster in you takes over_, he heard Mohinder´s voice again how he´d spoken to him not so long ago. _It just takes over and when that happens the human part of the soul is just too weak to resist._

Oh, god, please no. Was that really true? Should he be cursed to let this happen, to be the one who would destroy this world, without being able to do anything about it? In his desperation he started to walk but stopped again after a few steps, knowing that there was no place for him to run to. That couldn´t be. It mustn´t be.

That isn´t the way things are supposed to happen, he thought to himself. We are supposed to find a way to stop it and save the world. That´s what heroes are supposed to do.

But then again, who was he thinking about, when he said `we´? There was no `we´. He was alone. And he was no hero. He was the one who would destroy the world. Alone. And there was no one that would ever be able to stop him. He couldn´t be stopped. He couldn´t die. Ever.

He looked around again, desperately looking for something that could give him an answer to this oh so pressing question: What should he do now? What could he do? But where was he supposed to find an answer? He was alone and there was nothing around here, except for some trees, a park bench and Mohinder´s taxi.

Sylar´s eyes remained on that cab for a while that felt like an eternity. This situation was unpleasantly familiar. And if there was something history should teach, then that one shouldn´t repeat the mistakes of the past. But then again, what choice did he have? There was no one else to turn to. No matter how much this man hated him, he was the only friend he could think of in this moment. At least the only one that was reachable.

So Sylar looked around the place for the cell phone Frank had dropped earlier. When he finally found it, he noticed with relief that it wasn´t even broken. He picked it up and looked at it for a moment, hesitating. That wouldn´t work. It hadn´t work back then in New York and it wouldn´t work today. He didn´t even have a right to hope for that.

But then a shadow moved over the moon, Sylar could see that in the corner of his eye, and he swirled around in panic. It was just a cloud, thanks god. But the lunar eclipse would happen tonight, there was just no way around that.

Sylar swallowed and looked at the phone in his hand again. He simply had no other choice. He needed help and this was his last hope. So he closed his eyes to gather some courage and then pressed the button for repeat dialing, hoping that Mohinder was still near the phone he´d used to call him on this cell phone earlier. When he took the phone to his ear, his hand was shaking.

**...**

Juliet looked around the place. The parking lot of the motel was halfway filled with cars. Not too many places for someone to hide. Not that she believed that Sylar would try to hide from them in any case, but she checked the place nevertheless, just the way protocol demanded it. Of course there was no one there. One look in Mohinder´s face and she knew that he had known that as well.

Why were they here, she wondered. Sylar wouldn´t come here. She just knew it. And she was pretty sure that Bennet knew that as well. Of course he knew it. So why the hell had he sent them here if he …? Her cell phone started to ring and she flinched, getting it out. Before she answered it, she checked the caller ID. And it was good that she did.

She looked up at Mohinder with open eyes and the scientist tensed, guessing what she was going to say.

"That´s the number you called earlier." she told him. "Your own phone."

"Sylar." he breathed, thinking for a moment. "Give it to me."

"You sure?"

"If it´s him he calls back to talk to me." Mohinder said. "Better he doesn´t know you´re with me."

Juliet handed him the phone and he hurried to answer it. "Sylar?"

There was a brief silence before Sylar said in a low voice: "I know I probably have no right to ask you for help."

"What did you do with Wieland?" Mohinder immediately asked the killer.

"He´s gone." Sylar said and Mohinder closed his eyes. But then Sylar added: "Means I let him go. No idea where he is now. But maybe it would have been better if I´d killed him."

Mohinder blinked confused. "Why that?" Opposite of him, Juliet mirrored his confused look.

"I know how it happens, Mohinder." Sylar said. "I understand it now. The catastrophe. It will happen tonight."

"We know that." the scientist told him. When he saw Juliet´s asking eyes, he put the cell on speaker phone.

There was a stunned silence for a moment. "You do?" Sylar asked.

"Gus gave us the tip." Mohinder nodded locking tensed eyes with Juliet. "The lunar eclipse?"

"Of course, Gus." Sylar said dreamy and it sounded as if he was smiling and crying the same time. "It will rip everything open, Mohinder." he then told him. "There´s nothing that can stop it."

"That´s not true." Mohinder denied. "Hiro and some of the others are on their way to put out the LHC in C.E.R.N. As soon as that is done …"

"That might not be enough." Sylar talked over him. "Maybe the machine made Frank´s ability go wild but it´s not the machine that´ll cause the catastrophe. It´s him." After a brief silence he added: "Or maybe it´s me."

"You?" Mohinder exchanged another worried glance with Juliet.

"I took his ability." Sylar explained. "I doubled the danger. Maybe worse."

"But … When you control the power …"

"That´s exactly what I mean. I don´t know if I can. It´s strong, Mohinder. Far too strong. It´s overwhelming. I don´t know. I might even do something really bad without being able to stop myself."

"Wait. You …"

"I know you don´t believe me but I don´t wanna destroy everything." Sylar kept talking. "I don´t know why I took his powers. It just happened."

Mohinder felt it tickle behind his own forehead at this. "Like the murders?" he replied.

The words were out of his mouth before he was able to stop himself. When he realized what he´d said, it was already too late. Juliet threw him a reproving glance.

"I´m asking for your help, Mohinder." Sylar told him defensively. "Someone needs to stop me." There was a brief silence in the line, which Mohinder couldn´t fill. The only reasonable thing to say in this situation would be an apology, but somehow these words just refused to come. In this moment Mohinder wished the words he did say, had refused to come out as well. But instead they´d come without being asked. What the hell was wrong with him?

"Maybe it was a mistake to call you." Sylar decided at last.

"No … Wait." Mohinder cried, recalling another faithful phone call that had ended that way. Because he´d refused to accept an earnest plead for help, because he hadn´t been able to handle the situation the right way. Again there was an opportunity that offered itself to him, a chance to stop something terrible from happening and he was again blowing it, just because he couldn´t jump over his own shadow. Sylar would hang up and they would lose their last chance to find him in time.

In this moment, Juliet grabbed the phone from him, crying into it.

"Sylar. Listen." she demanded.

For a moment there was no answer and she already believed that she´d been too late. But then Sylar´s uncertain voice asked: "Juliet?"

"I know you want to stop this from happening." she started to talk to him. "But we can´t help you if you don´t tell us where you are."

"Why would you want to help me?" he asked and she could hear the bitter smile that was on his face.

"I´m a cop." she said. "I protect and serve."

There was a tiny chuckle. "You protect and serve murderers?" he asked.

"Sylar." she said exasperated. "You said you don´t want to destroy. We don´t want that either. So please. Help us prevent it. Tell us where you are. We´ll stop it. Together."

In the following silence the only thing Juliet could see were the waiting and tensed eyes of Suresh. They both couldn´t do anything but hope that her words had gotten through to Sylar.

At last he spoke up again. "I´m at the cliffs." he said, naming the street he´d taken to get there.

"All right." Juliet said. "I know where that is. Just stay there. We´re on our way."

**...**

There was another strange sound on the other side of the door and it was a sound that Henry disliked even more than the ones they´d heard until now. So far the guards had only tried to hit the door open after they´d unsuccessfully tried to crack the electrical mechanism. That one had been sufficiently disabled by the butt of Henry´s gun. He´d watched the door anyway, just in case these guys should come up with something unexpected.

Meanwhile Shawn and the others were busy searching the on and off switch of that damn oversized water hose, these people used to call a particle accelerator. What a stupid thing to put so much effort to. But that was not his concern. What made him concerned now was this new sound outside of this door.

He leaned his ear to the door and tried to listen. He could hear something. It somehow sounded familiar. It was a fuzzing sound like from a … He skipped away from the door just in time to avoid the white flame that burned its way through it.

"God, what the …" he cried, when he realized that he´d just been two seconds away from getting earlobe piercings the hard way.

"Wow! What?" Shawn cried behind him when he saw the little flame that was piercing through the metal of the door.

"They try to weld it open." Henry stated, trying not to let show how his voice was still quivering from that experience. "You guys better hurry. They won´t need too long for that. Depends on the door."

Gus looked down on the panel he was currently working on and shook his head with a frustrated frown. "That isn´t gonna work." he said. "They shut the system down. I can´t get in to switch it off."

"Of course they shut it down." Shawn told him. "They know we are in here. They don´t want terrorists to mess with their system."

"I´m not a terrorist, Shawn." Gus objected.

"Well, they don´t know that. For them we are so terrorists. What would you do if that was your … participant … access … giver?"

"Particle Accelerator." Gus corrected but immediately looked into the distance thoughtfully. "And they didn´t shut it down." he said in a musing tone. "The accelerator still runs. They can´t switch it off like that, the system is far too complex for that. They just locked me out of the system so I can´t mess with it."

"What?"

"The accelerator." Gus repeated. "It´s still working."

"You already said that."

"But that´s it. Don´t you see?"

"No, Gus. I obviously don´t see. What am I supposed to see?"

"Hurry up, guys." Henry cried. Behind him the welder had already made its way down the door.

"I know what to do." Gus stated.

"What you want to do?" Hiro asked with big eyes.

"Yeah, I´d like to know that too." Shawn cried.

"Just give me a second." Gus said and rushed over to the second console as fast as his hurting leg allowed him. He entered some data and waited what the computer would do. When the reply came up on the small screen, he smiled triumphantly.

"All right." he said and cracked his knuckles. "Now … Just let me do my magic."


	17. In The End

**In The End**

It was still within the limits of the city of course but the one thing all the cities along the sea border seemed to have in common was that area around the beaches and especially the cliffs. They just gave you the feeling as if you were miles away from the next building that harbored people. Almost as if there was no one around at all that could witness if something should happen. Maybe that was the reason why Sylar had picked this place to go when he´d been with Frank Wieland. When he´d still planned to kill the man to get his powers. Mohinder had no other way to think about it. For some reason Sylar had not done it. But Mohinder was sure that this was what he´d been up to in the beginning.

At last they saw the taxi, parked at the curbside of this small street. Juliet pulled over behind it and killed the engine. She´d just turned off the lights when Mohinder spotted the figure that stood by a park bench a few feet ahead. She followed his gaze and saw him too. He was in the dark so they couldn´t see his face, but there was just no way that it could be anyone else but Sylar.

The two of them shared a glance but no one said a word. Instead they just opened their doors and got out. For a moment they remained where they were, just looking at the dark figure. He didn´t move. Didn´t say a word. They exchanged another worried glance. Mohinder didn´t know what to do.

"Sylar?" he called the man in the dark.

There was still no answer. Mohinder was about to suggest that they should call Bennet and Lassiter but in that moment Juliet just started to move. She walked straight ahead over the grass, to Sylar. Mohinder was startled for a moment. Then he hurried after her. The closer he came to Sylar´s dark figure, the better he could see in that darkness. His eyes seemed to be fixed on the man´s face, as it cleared itself out to him. Until he could finally see the expression on it.

Now he understood why Sylar hadn´t answered him. The man was scared. Mohinder had never seen Sylar scared. Not like that. But he wasn´t scared of them. Of course not. It looked more like … shame. The kind of shame that could keep a person from calling out for help. Dear god, was it that? Was that even possible? Sylar?

"What happened?" he heard detective O´Hara ask.

Sylar looked at her for a moment and then shook his head. "I took his power." he told her. "Or it took me, I don´t know." He looked at Mohinder for a moment, his eyes pleading, before he went on. "It´s strong." he said. „Much stronger than anything I ever had so far. I can´t control it. A part of me doesn´t want to. But I can´t …" he shook his head again. "You were right, Mohinder. All along. I should have let you inject me. I shouldn´t have resisted."

Now the shame he´d seen in Sylar´s face, caught up with him. Mohinder lowered his eyes.

"I shouldn´t have tried to inject you without your permission." he said, admitting his own failure as a doctor of science.

"We need to take it away." Sylar said. "All of it if necessary. That´s the only way. Otherwise I will …"

"I´ve got it here." Mohinder said eagerly, taking the syringe out of his inner pocket. "You didn´t break it." he mentioned.

Sylar was staring at him with waiting eyes. He nodded subtly but it looked as if he´d just remembered that fact himself. Maybe he hadn´t even known that he´d spared the syringe. Maybe it had been some subconscious decision back then. Maybe he´d guessed that it would be necessary later on. Maybe …

"Do it." Sylar said, already rolling up his sleeve.

"No, wait." Juliet cried and stepped into Mohinder´s way. "That doesn´t make any sense. Hiro said your future you told him to stop you from injecting him. He must have believed that it was necessary that you keep your powers."

"He was wrong." Sylar said, shaking his head as if she was talking crazy. "Look at me. Because I had my powers, I will destroy everything."

"Or maybe you will prevent it." Juliet argued adamantine. "Think of it."

"I can´t stop it." Sylar told her desperately. "I can´t even control this awesome power. Not really. Not if it would unleash its full potential, so how could I stop it?"

"The Dr. Suresh from the future believed that you could." she replied.

Sylar´s eyes found Mohinder´s again. He was asking him for an answer that he didn´t have. Of course not. How could he know any of this? It all lay in a future that he didn´t know. But in some way detective O´Hara was right. When his future self had been so desperate to let Hiro bring back this message, then there had to be something about it. So why? Why should he want Sylar to have this power? What was so special about him and his abilities that the Suresh from the future believed it could stop the end of the world? They didn´t even understand what it really was that would bring the world to an end. God, not even in the future they had known … Mohinder halted in his own thoughts. They hadn´t known. Sylar had been powerless. Without his abilities.

And then he suddenly knew it.

"Intuition." he said.

"What?"

"Maybe you don´t need to control it." Mohinder tried his best to explain his line of thoughts. "Maybe you just need to understand it. To find out how we can stop it."

Sylar shook his head. "I tried to understand it. It´s far too much. I stopped. If I go too deeply into it, I´ll lose myself in there."

"But that´s the only chance I see. Detective O´Hara´s right. The reason why you have to have your powers is because you can understand how things work. You can understand this phenomenon that is about to destroy this world. You can find out how to stop it."

"No."

"You have to." Mohinder demanded. "Look at it." When Sylar kept shaking his head, Mohinder grabbed his shoulder and made him look at him. "Stop fighting it." he almost shouted at him, angrily. "Allow it to take you in, try to understand it."

"If I do that, I could lose control over myself." Sylar told him.

"No, you won´t." Mohinder was surprised how convinced he was about what he said. "You´ll be in control. Remember what you told me? About Matt? You are more than your powers. You are a person first. And the person that is Sylar that I saw over the last few weeks, kept telling me that he was a new man. That he wanted to be a hero. Not the power controls you, but the other way around. Believe it. Be strong. You can do it."

For a moment Sylar seemed too scared to even consider that idea. But then he closed his eyes and visibly pulled himself together. When he opened them again, he seemed much calmer. A tiny grateful smile was on his lips.

"I don´t know what will happen, when I´m in there." he told them. "You better keep that shot ready. Just in case."

Mohinder nodded. "Don´t worry, I will."

"And me too." Juliet added, pulling her gun.

Sylar and Mohinder looked at her for a moment but then Sylar nodded at her, almost gratefully. She mirrored his nod and then raised the gun, aiming at him. The eyes of the man that once had been a killer – or maybe he still was, she wasn´t a hundred percent sure – remained on her for another moment, before he closed them, to concentrate.

Juliet and Mohinder shared a brief glance. It should be a while before Sylar would open his eyes again to come back to them. And he should open them, facing bullets that would be shot at him.

**...**

The white flame of the welder had almost completed its way around the door, leaving behind a smaller version of the door it was supposed to open. Only a few more minutes and the guards would get through to them, and then it would be over.

"Gus, for god´s sake." Henry barked. "What are you doing that long?"

"I´m almost done." Gus told them all.

"Almost is too less, dude." Shawn urged, bobbing in his place. "What are you doing?"

"I´m overheating the system of the LHC." Gus told them. "When they see that, they will have no other choice but to put it out themselves."

"Are you sure?" Shawn asked.

"Yeah. If they don´t put it out, they risk to lose the whole thing."

"Good idea." Hiro cheered behind them.

"How much longer?" Henry demanded to know.

"Technically they should already be scared to death by what I did." Gus answered. "But I keep heating up anyway."

"What if they don´t switch it off?" Shawn asked.

"They will." Gus insisted.

"But what if they don´t?"

"Shawn. If they don´t switch it off they are insane. I heated that thing up that much to bake a rock inside of its engine."

"What if they _are_ insane?"

"Shawn."

"I mean they tried to open black holes in here. Right?"

"Shawn!"

"If we don´t vanish here any time soon, _we_ will be baked in this thing´s engine." Henry cried and finally went away from that door, that was now almost defeated. "What is it now?" he demanded to know. "Is this gonna work or not?"

"It will." Gus assured him.

They stared at the console for a moment, and nothing happened. The welder was almost at the point where it had started to eat its way through the door.

"That´s it." Henry said and cocked his gun. "I´ll just shoot that damn gadget."

"That wouldn´t do any damage to the LHC." Gus cried and blocked his way. In that moment a beeping sound came from the console and made them all swirl around to it.

"What´s that supposed to mean?" Henry asked.

Gus typed something in and another bunch of data appeared on the screen. He read it over for a moment and then bowed his knees in triumph, wincing when his shot wounds came back to mind. "That´s it." he cried triumphantly despite the pain. "I told you. I told you they would switch it of. Yeah, I did it."

"They really put it out?" Shawn asked but didn´t need an answer to happily jump up and down along with Gus. "Dude, that´s great. You rock."

"I know." Gus cried and hit his fist into Shawn´s shoulder without thinking. Shawn squinted and grabbed his arm when his own wound seemed to be on fire all the sudden. Within two seconds his legs gave in and he dropped to the ground. Gus, didn´t even notice. He was busy with his victory dance.

There was a cracking sound coming from the door. The welder was done with its work and the guards were hitting against the lose part of the door to get through. Henry reached down to his son and lifted him up without letting the door out of his sight.

"Is there anything left for us to do here?" he demanded to know.

"No." Gus said. „Now that the LHC is out …"

"Good." Henry talked over him and shoved them all together so Hiro could touch them all. "Then let´s get the hell out of here." he demanded.

The small Japanese understood and immediately closed his eyes to do as the elder Spencer wished. When the door was finally broken and the guards rushed in, the room was empty.

**...**

Lassiter pressed his back against a tree trunk. A few feet away Bennet was doing the same. Lassiter could still not believe what he saw. How the hell had O´Hara and this doctor found their way here? And what the hell were they doing there anyway?

When they´d arrived they´d found the two of them standing with Sylar who seemed to have closed his eyes for some reason. Juliet was aiming at him but otherwise nothing was happening. At least not from their side. Somehow Lassiter had the feeling as if it had gotten darker around them. Was that just him? Or maybe it was because of the lunar eclipse that had started to darken the moon above their heads by now. So far it was only a little shadow at the right edge of the moon. But as far as Carlton knew that, these things didn´t need too long to happen. One hour or even less? He wasn´t sure. But it would get serious very soon.

"What the hell are they doing there?" Noah hissed now, looking at the scene before them with an irritated frown.

"Maybe we should just go over there and ask them." Lassiter suggested but Noah shook his head. His eyes never left Sylar. His target.

"I think I can hit him from here." he said.

"I don´t know if this is a good idea." Lassiter objected. "We don´t know what he´s doing and what will happen when you shoot him now."

"Look at the moon, Carlton." Noah replied. "We´re running out of time."

"My partner is standing right next to him." Carlton hissed. "Let me go there and check it out. I´ll give you a signal."

Noah threw another glance at Sylar. He was reluctant but he was thinking. At last he faced Carlton again.

"All right." he said.

That was all Carlton needed. He knew Noah would keep his promise. At least as long as he thought it possible. So the detective left the trees behind and walked over the grass, to his partner and the other two guys. The closer he came there, the colder it seemed to be. Was that because of the ocean? They were at the cliffs after all. But when he started to see his breath, he knew it was more than that. O´Hara and Suresh were shivering too but they remained at their places stubbornly.

"O´Hara." Carlton addressed his partner, aiming his gun at Sylar.

"Carlton." she cried surprised and immediately looked around. "Where´s Bennet?"

"We separated." he told her and threw a glance at Sylar. "What´s going on here?"

"He tries to find a way to stop all this." she said. There was something in her eyes that seemed to beg him to believe her. As if she was afraid he could blow the whole thing.

"Are you sure?" he asked uncertain.

"Yes." Suresh answered before she had a chance to.

Carlton looked at him and so did Juliet. When she faced Carlton again, she supported Suresh´s statement with a Yes of her own. The conviction in both of their voices didn´t miss its effect on him. He looked at the unmoving figure of the murderer before him. Sylar´s eyes were still closed. He didn´t even seem to realize what was going on around him. He also didn´t seem to be effected by the cold these shadows had brought with them.

"How?" Carlton asked.

Suresh took over the part of explaining it to him. Astoundingly for a scientist, he managed it to talk in a way that Carlton even understood what he meant. But understanding the idea didn´t mean that he was convinced about the intentions of this killer.

"And you are sure that this isn´t just a trick?" he asked therefore. "That he won´t …"

But he didn´t get to finish his question because in this moment Sylar took a loud and deep breath. Carlton swirled around to him and saw the killer slowly opening his eyes as if he just woke up from a short nap – a nap that he´d taken standing. When his eyes fell on Carlton, the detective grabbed his gun a little tighter. But Sylar only looked a little surprised to see him, otherwise he remained absolutely calm. Carlton wasn´t sure if that was easing his mind though.

"You don´t need your gun, detective." Sylar said. "I´m in control over myself. I won´t let it happen."

Carlton frowned. That was not what he´d expected this murderer to say first. Sylar was facing the scientist now as if it was totally normal that the detective with the gun had joined their little gathering.

"You were right again." he told Mohinder. "I know how …"

But his words were cut off when suddenly a bunch of bullets hit him in the chest, throwing him to the ground. The three of them swirled around. Carlton´s first thought was Noah but when he looked back at the line of trees, he already knew that this assumption had been wrong. The bullets had come from another direction. So he turned around and finally spotted what O´Hara and Suresh were already facing.

It was Frank Wieland who was standing there, a gun in his unexperienced hands. They were shaking but he was still aiming ahead, even now that O´Hara and Carlton both aimed their own guns at him.

"Freeze!" Lassiter yelled. "Throw the gun away!"

"I need to finish it." Wieland replied with the shivering voice of a desperate man. "He has to die. We both do."

"No." Suresh cried. "That´s not necessary, Frank. There´s another way."

Wieland looked at him and actually seemed to hesitate. But then he just shook his head.

"I can´t take that chance." he said. "We both need to die or everything will be destroyed. I couldn´t live with myself if I would let that happen."

"Neither could he." Mohinder pointed at the unmoving Sylar on the ground. "He wants to stop it."

"It can´t be stopped." Wieland replied. "He said that himself." The physicist threw a brief glance up at the moon. It was almost halfway dark by now. "There is no time." he said, matter of factly.

"That´s my last warning, Wieland." Lassiter said. "Throw the gun away or I will shoot you."

Wieland looked at him for a moment and there was something like shock and realization in his eyes. For a moment Lassiter believed he´d gotten through to the man. But then Wieland took on a challenging expression.

"Yeah." he said. "Do that. Shoot me. But first I make sure he´s dead too."

"Don´t do it." Lassiter warned him when the Swiss aimed his gun at Sylar again.

Wieland glanced at him but then put pressure on the trigger. Before he could really squeeze it though, Lassiter shot. Wieland was thrown around. His gun flew out of his hand, slid over the grass and came to a stop before the feet of Mohinder Suresh.

O´Hara hurried to the fallen Wieland, bowing over him to check if he was still alive. Lassiter watched how a confused frown appeared on her face. She looked back at him startled.

"You only graced him." she found.

"I figured that´d be enough to disarm a guy like him." Lassiter stated.

"Please." Wieland groaned. "Kill me. And him. We can´t risk the future of the world."

"He´s right." a new voice spoke up behind them, making them all swirl around.

Bennet was standing over Sylar with his gun, aiming at him. The gun that was loaded with the drug that could disarm Sylar´s power, Carlton knew. But no matter what O´Hara and Suresh had told him, for Carlton this knowledge was no reason for an instant act in this moment. The more it surprised him that it seemed to be one for Suresh – and he didn´t even know that this gun was anything other than a usual gun, something that was no real problem for Sylar´s healing powers.

The scientist reacted faster than Carlton would have expected it from him. All the sudden he´d picked up the gun, Wieland had lost, and aimed it at Bennet.

"No." he demanded. "Don´t."

Noah looked at him as startled over that behavior as Lassiter. "Mohinder, what are you doing?" he asked calmly.

"I can´t let you do that." the scientist said.

Noah looked at him estimating. But then he obviously decided to ignore the threat, as one that wasn´t serious enough to be treated as one.

"If you pull the trigger, I shoot you." Shuresh shouted, more than just serious. "You know I can do it, Noah."

"You would shoot me to protect him?"

"To protect the world." Mohinder corrected. "He´s the only one who can stop all this."

"He´s right." Juliet chipped in and made Noah look at her, over his shoulder. "If you shoot him now, you destroy our last chance to stop it."

Noah studied her face for a moment. He seemed to realize that she really meant what she said. The way Suresh meant it when he said, he would shoot him if he tried to shoot at Sylar. In some way Lassiter could even understand why. If Noah would shoot, it wouldn´t make any difference anymore. Because then there would be no way to stop the end any longer. And thinking that, Carlton realized that he actually believed what O´Hara and Suresh had told him. That Sylar was indeed the only one who could stop all this. Dammit, when had he started to believe that?

He looked at Sylar again and the man was wide awake by now. He was looking up at them all, listening to their argument with confusion and astonishment. He´d probably come around just now.

"How?" Bennet demanded to know. "How can you stop it?"

Sylar looked at him. "I have to close it." he said, slowly getting up. "From the inside."

Noah only frowned, not understanding. He was still aiming his gun at Sylar. And as long as he wouldn´t lower his gun, Mohinder wouldn´t lower his either.

"What does that mean?" Juliet asked uncertain.

Sylar looked at her and there was a strange smile on his lips now. "That´s the only way." he said. "I need to go in. And close it from the other side."

Above them the moon got darker every second as it seemed.

"But …" she shook her head, still not sure what he meant.

"What does that mean?" Bennet demanded to know.

"You won´t need that gun, Noah." Sylar said instead of giving him an answer. He faced Mohinder, totally dismissing Bennet. "Give Frank the remedy." he said in a gentle tone. "So this will never happen again."

"What do you want to do?" the scientist asked uncertain.

Sylar smiled this strange smile again and looked up at the moon. His eyes were kinda dreamy, almost as if he was happy about what he saw there. "There´s only one way to stop all this." he said matter of factly but with an eerie calmness in his voice. He seemed to glow with excitement, when he faced the geneticist again.

"But …" Juliet spoke up, now understanding what he was getting at. "You will die."

"A small sacrifice for the survival of the whole world." Sylar replied, still smiling. After another moment, he looked at Mohinder again. "Seems I´m going to be a hero after all." he said.

The scientist opened his mouth to say something but there was no sound coming out. He just didn´t know what to say. All he could do to express that, was to shake his head helplessly. Sylar seemed to understand anyway.

"You all should leave now." he said. "I don´t know what will happen."

"I´m not gonna leave here, to give you free hand with this power." Bennet stated, holding his gun tightly even though he was currently aiming it at the ground.

"Then I suggest you all hold onto something very tight." Sylar replied. "It could get messi."

"Is there really no other way?" Juliet asked, stepping forward.

Sylar smiled warmly at her. "Sweet Juliet." he said and wiped a strand of hair out of her face. "Tell Shawn I wish you two the best." he said. "And that I´m happy for you."

"I´m sorry, I … ." she started but didn´t know how to go on.

"Don´t be." Sylar said, still smiling. "That´s my decision. It´s the right thing to do."

For a moment, Juliet didn´t know what to do. But then she took a decision and leaned forward, kissing him. She didn´t know why she did this. She was not in love with him. She still loved Shawn with all her heart. But this man was ready to give his life for all of them and somehow she felt that he´d earned this. It was the least she could do to somehow express how much that decision of him meant. Not only to her but to all of them.

His first reaction was surprise, maybe even shock. But then he took her face in his hands and accepted this present. When they parted, the only thing she knew to say was: "Thank you for doing this."

He smiled, looking deeply into her eyes. And for a short moment, she felt that this man, that was called a monster by so many people, was truly nothing but a man. Deep inside. Capable of mercy, compassion and even love. And in this moment, it was almost impossible for her to believe that this was the same man that had brutally murdered so many people, that he could have that in him when he also had the decency to make such a sacrifice. In this moment Juliet wondered, how he had gotten into this place, what must have happened to him to make him that monster that he was. And alone the thought of that, made her want to cry.

Sylar had told her that her power was it to make people love her. But maybe it also contained the ability to love as well, even someone like Sylar. To love a murderer like him just for what he was, for the human heart that was still hidden somewhere in his chest, no matter how broken and deformed it was – and to mourn the loss that his death would mean. Especially to mourn the tragedy that was the way his death would happen.

She wanted to tell him that, wanted to let him know how thankful she was and how much it hurt her to let this happen without being able to do anything to help him. How sorry she was that there was no other way, and how much she wished that there was. How much she felt for him in the end and how much she wished that there could be a happy end for him. She wanted to say all this and more. But in the end she didn´t say anything, just joined Carlton and the others how they held onto the bench and the trees that grew nearby.

Everything that happened after that, went by like in a dream. Time seemed to crawl by, slowly and viscously, as slowly as the moon above them finished his total eclipse – and then at last, all hell broke loose and things rushed by like a video tape that got fast forwarded.

Something happened up there in the air. There was a sound above them. A strange sound.

Fffflloppppp.

And then a strong wind came up. Only that it was no wind. It was a sucking force that threatened to suck in everything that wasn´t affixed fast enough. The five people clung to their respective supporting element, while this wind around them got stronger and stronger. It was as if they were in the middle of a tornado. Juliet threw a glance upwards and what she saw there, beside her own feet, almost made her lose her mind. Because what she saw was impossible.

It was a hole she saw there in the air above them. A hole in the mere fabric of the universe and what was behind it was pure darkness. The sky was black already but what she saw in that eye, was more than just dark. It was somehow more … organic.

Above her and Carlton, the tree started to bow its top and she could hear the wood creak under the force. For a dreadful moment she believed she felt the roots moving, being ripped out of the ground. And then her gaze met that of Sylar for one last time.

He´d stood at his place almost undisturbed so far, as if the whole event didn´t even concern him. The wind was ruffling his hair and sent it flying around his head but that seemed to be all that was disturbing him. Only that this wasn´t true. She could see it in his eyes. He was scared. He knew he would die and he didn´t want to. He wanted to live as much as every living thing on this earth. And for a moment, Juliet was scared that he would change his mind after all. That he would just turn around and run, to save his own life and let the rip in the sky do its work, the way Hiro had seen it in the future.

But then Sylar turned around and just set off. His feet left the ground and he flew straight ahead into this hole in the sky. They all watched him fly away until he vanished inside of that black eye. For a moment nothing changed. But then there was light. A bright blinding light that filled the inside of the hole, only for a moment.

Juliet closed her eyes against this brightness and a second later there was a deafening sound. Not deafening because it was so loud but because all the sudden all the pressure seemed to be gone around them. Like in a plane when you got pressure on your ears. The wind that had dragged them up, stopped and they all dropped to the ground like literal windfall. Around them everything was silent.

Juliet lay on the ground and stared up into the sky. The black hole was gone. The sky was peaceful and quiet. Only a few lost clouds were passing by completely innocent and unaware of what had just happened. The world was save.

Still Juliet couldn´t feel relief. All she could feel was sadness. And regret. And sorry. So much sorry. So fast, she thought. How could all of this be over so fast? And then this awful silence that lay over them all. It was almost too much to stand.

And then her cell phone started to ring.

She flinched and almost dropped it in her efforts to answer the call. When she brought the phone to her ear, she almost expected to hear Sylar´s voice on the other end. As if he could call from the other side to say goodbye, one last time. Honestly, if it would have been him, she would have screamed and she couldn´t have said if she´d ever be able to stop again.

But it wasn´t Sylar who spoke to her. It was Shawn.

"Jules." he cried excited and so happy. "We made it. The LHC is down. You hear me? It´s off. We really made it. … Jules?"

For a while that felt like an eternity Juliet was not able to overcome that lump in her throat. But in the end she managed it, tears of pain running down her face, to say the only words that seemed to matter in this moment.

"I love you, Shawn."


	18. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

Mohinder sat in his motel room, waiting for the taxi that was supposed to bring him to the airport. It was amazing how this room could suddenly feel so depressing. Even more than ever before. But that was exactly the difference. Before he´d felt frustrated most of the time, because he hadn´t known what to do about Sylar. Now that Sylar was gone and the whole question had become redundant, he only felt depressed.

It was ridiculous to feel that way. Still he couldn´t help it. As less as he could help this nagging feeling of guilt. Even more ridiculous. Nothing of what had happened was his fault. Nothing of what had happened could have been done any different. And he was sure that Sylar would be the last person on earth to blame him for how things had happened.

But guilt was a funny thing.

Sylar had told him about this kind of feeling for weeks and weeks, but Mohinder had never really understood it. Now he finally got an idea. The most ridiculous thing of it all. Now that Sylar was dead, he started to understand him. Now that it was useless to even try.

He remembered Roberta, Sylar´s boss for these last few weeks, when he´d told her that Sylar wouldn´t come to work anymore. He hadn´t planned to tell her anything but she´d asked him and he´d had to tell her something. He hadn´t said that Sylar was dead. Not really. He´d said, that Sylar had vanished. That had been his choice of words. But somehow Roberta had understood the unsaid anyway. And the look on her face was something he wouldn´t forget for a long time. It was the first time he´d ever seen grief in the face of someone, because of Sylar the murderer.

Roberta hadn´t cried, not by a long shot. But the shock, Mohinder had seen in her face, when she´d realized what his words really came down to, that had been real. She´d liked Sylar. Somehow she´d liked him. She´d liked the guy he´d been. And she´d trusted him. Something Mohinder had never been able to accomplish. Now it was too late.

Mohinder´s hand wandered down to the cassette recorder once again and pushed the play button maybe for the twentieth time today. He didn´t know why he´d started to listed to that tape again. He knew that conversation, his father and Sylar had had so many years ago, almost by heart. Back then he´d listened to it all the time, hoping to find a clue to his father´s murderer on it. But that had been the only time he´d ever listened to it.

He hadn´t found much back then. But now that he listened to it again, he seemed to find so many things, that he hadn´t even known that they were there. Things that he couldn´t have found earlier because his conscious mind would have sufficiently prevented him from seeing it. But sometimes guilt could make you ignore what you had done or believed before. As well as it could make you see things from another point of view all the sudden. In Mohinder´s case it was the latter.

He suddenly heard the other side of that conversation. Not only his father, who was afraid of that monster that went by the name of Sylar. Now he heard the man that once had been Gabriel Gray and that was becoming this monster that went by the name of Sylar.

"_When I was a kid, I used to wish some stranger would come and tell me my family wasn´t really my family." _he heard Sylar´s voice out of the loud speaker. The voice of a dead man. "_They weren´t bad people they were just … insignificant. And I wanted to be different. Special. I wanted to change. A new name, a new life. The watchmaker´s son, became a watchmaker. It´s so futile. And I wanted to be … important."_

"_You are important, Gabriel." _Mohinder´s father replied. He was so excited.

"_What do you think my abilities might be?" _Sylar asked, catching the excitement.

"_That is it what we´re going to find out." _

Mohinder listened to this first talk a little longer and then pressed fast-forward. He´d heard it all already.

"_Why do you repair watches, Gabriel?" _his father asked Sylar, when Mohinder pressed the play button again.

"_My father didn´t really give me a choice." _was the not happy answer._  
><em>

_"If it wasn´t what you want, then why not … change?" _

"_You used a phrase in your book." _Sylar replied._ „Evolutionary Imperative."_

"_That which we´re destined to do."  
><em>

_"Sea turtles die on the same exact beach where they were born. Lions slaughter gazelles. Spiders eat their young. They don´t want to. They have to."_

There was a short hesitation before his father spoke up again. "_Well, the good news is … you´re healthy." _he said.

"_You mean … normal?" _Sylar was undisguised disappointed._ "There are still no signs?"_

"_No."_

"_Maybe tomorrow, we still go to the CT-scan, right?" _the test subject asked but the end of his sentence made clear that this last hope was already lost.

"_I think we should go to the possibility that I may have been wrong." _Chandra Suresh said._ "You may not have a special ability."_

"_I´m so close."_ Sylar almost begged._ "I can feel it." _There was a pause and then Sylar burst out almost scandalized:_ "You came to me. I´m on your list."_

"_These test´s aren´t a hundred percent." _Chandra explained._  
><em>

There was a sound in Sylar´s voice as if he wanted to cry when he begged:_ "Don´t give up on me."_

"_There are other opportunities that I have to focus on." _Chandra replied, dismissing the pleading man.

"_These people, huh?" _Sylar replied, now angry._ "They are important? This guy … Brian Davis, you think he´s telekinetic? Move things with his mind? You just toss him aside, too?"_

"_You better leave now, Mr. Gray."_

Mohinder pressed fast-forward again. It was depressing to listen to these tapes. He wondered why he did it in the first place but still he couldn´t stop. The evolutionary imperative, Sylar had said. He´d believed that he hadn´t had a choice to become what he became. First the watchmaker and later the murderer.

Mohinder shook his head. That was ridiculous. A person always had a choice. Someone had made Gabriel believe that he had no choice of his own. His father maybe? Whoever´d done it, he´d put him in a cage with that. No wonder that he´d yearned for getting out. Getting free. Everybody would have yearned for that. It was no excuse for the murders. But …

Mohinder pressed the play button again. The next talk his father had had with Sylar, he´d had developed an amazing new skill. Telekinesis.

"_Sorry about the glass."_ Sylar said after the sound of something breaking was audible.

"_It´s … just glass." _Chandra replied, chuckling with amazement. Oh, he was so excited all the sudden. All the dismissive tone vanished from his voice. Mohinder had never realized how selfish his father had been with Sylar, his precious lab rat. Never in his life he would have thought that he would see those things from the killer´s point of view.

Guilt was a funny thing indeed.

"_I feel that I´ve been giving a chance to start over." _Sylar said now._ "A new life, a new identity. A new purpose." _

He sounded much more confident in this talk. The memory of having killed a man, seemed to have given him the feeling of power, maybe even more than the telekinesis he´d gained from it. Mohinder wasn´t sure what to think about that. All he could think of right now was the role his father had played back then, in making Gabriel Gray become Sylar by using him for his scientific research as if he truly were a lab rat. It was no excuse for what Sylar had done all these years. But it truly made it look different now.

Guilt was a funny thing.

"_These people … are out there waiting to be told that they are important." _Sylar now said._ "Waiting to unlock their true potential. I know it. I can … feel them. We´ll find them together."_

Mohinder sat there, his chin buried in his fist, and remembered a day in time, when Sylar had said something similar to him. He stopped the tape and turned it around, pressing once again fast-forward to find the spot on the tape where the other really important conversation took place. He needed to hear it again, to really compare what had happened back then.

"_Why did you turn away from me, Chandra?" _Sylar asked._ "You made me this way. You can´t leave me now."_

"_What you did was not what I had in mind when I started."_

"_I only did what you wanted me to do. You wanted to see what I can do." _

"_You can´t really believe that I wanted you to murder people."_

"_You helped me to discover my potential. You came to me and promised me that I was special. You promised me so much. And now? What now?"_

"_Nothing. It´s over. I won´t go on with this. My conscience forbids me to."_

"_Your conscience. Your conscience doesn´t seem to forbid you to leave someone behind after you failed him. You promised to help me. I trusted you."_

"_Please leave. I have nothing more to say."_

Mohinder´s fist tightened a little more. He stared at the wall on the other side of the room, while listening to that tape, wondering again why he listened to it in the first place. I trusted you, Sylar had said. And that was true. He had. He had trusted his father and he had trusted him. And he had failed him. He´d asked for his help and he had failed him. He´d failed the murderer, the monster, but also the person hidden behind them. Just like his father had failed him years ago.

Was it a curse that made them all repeat the mistakes of their fathers? Was it indeed this oh so famous Evolutionary Imperative? Mohinder didn´t know the answer to that. All he knew was that sometimes he wished to have Hiro Nakamura´s power of traveling back in time … to make things right, where he´d failed. He´d failed far too often in his life.

But he didn´t have that luxury. Wishing that he could change the past and actually doing it were two different things. Things were done and there was no way to change it. No way to make all the wrong things right again. It was unfair. He´d never thought that he would ever think something like that about Sylar, but he did. And he meant it.

Guilt was a funny thing.

Someone knocked on his door and Mohinder switched off the tape. When he opened the door, a man with a dark teint and a full beard stood there.

"You called for a taxi?" he asked in a strong Arabian accent.

For a moment, Mohinder felt the pain of nostalgia again. But then he smiled. "Yes. I´ll be right there." he said.

The man nodded and Mohinder packed the recorder into his luggage. After they´d loaded the luggage into the trunk, Mohinder was about to enter the cab – how ridiculous after he´d been driving these damn things for so many years – when a motorcycle caught his attention. It came rushing down the street and pulled into the parking lot in an almost insane speed. It was Shawn Spencer who dismounted it.

"Good." he breathed. "I thought I´d missed you."

"You almost did." Mohinder said, pointing at the taxi. "What is it?"

"Nothing, just … we hadn´t had much time after … you-know-what went down and … I just … wanted to say thank you."

Mohinder looked at the younger man before him totally startled. "I didn´t do anything." he said.

Shawn chuckled as if this was the most ridiculous thing he´d ever heard. "You stopped an apocalypse." he said matter of factly. Mohinder just shook his head but Shawn nodded. "If it hadn´t been for you, this whole thing might have gone different. We might live in another kind of world now. A world in which Jules and Gus and my dad would be dead. And I … let´s not even talk about what I would be. So thanks. I owe you. I really mean that."

Mohinder swallowed. "If we all owe anyone, then it would be Sylar." he said. "He´s the one who died to make all of this stop."

"I know." Shawn admitted. He looked at Mohinder estimating. "You regret that he´s dead?" he asked.

"I regret that I didn´t know any other way than to betray him again." Mohinder heard himself say.

Shawn didn´t give a response to that, he just nodded understandingly.

"Dr. Wieland waits for me at the airport." Mohinder stated with a glance at his watch.

"Right." Shawn said. "Okay. You … you go to C.E.R.N. with him?"

"To watch his process." Mohinder nodded. "If there is any that is. So far it seems the remedy is working. But that is something only time can tell. Like so many other things as it seems."

Again Shawn didn´t know anything else to do but to nod in agreement. The two of them said their goodbye and Mohinder got in the cab. The taxi rolled out of the parking lot and then took the road that would bring them to the airport.

Mohinder watched the motel and Shawn Spencer, who looked after him with his hands in his pockets, disappear in the distance and found himself oddly sad about the fact that he was leaving. He didn´t know what would come next and even though no one could ever really know what the future held for them, he was a little scared because of that.

He knew that feeling. He´d felt it once already. As strange as it was also at a time when he´d believed Sylar to have died. Back then when he´d been standing in front of the pyre along with all the others, watching a body burn he´d believed to be Sylar´s. Finally after such a long time things had seemed to have ended and he´d been looking forward to go back home to India. But still he´d been scared, wondering what his life would be now after all these things had happened. He´d thought back of the past and all the things that had happened and that he´d done. His mistakes and regrets. He´d unwillingly compared himself to Sylar that night, had thought about his own monster he´d faced – Sylar had been right about that – and he´d wondered if it really meant that the monster was defeated just because Sylar was dead.

Remembering these thoughts that he´d believed to have sufficiently thought through long ago, Mohinder felt sad again. Sadder than he should be.

The driver switched on the radio to fill the ride with some music. It happened to play a song from Linkin Park. Mohinder listened to the lyrics without wanting it and it didn´t do any good for his mind to find rest. He was close to scream for the driver to put that damn music out, that he couldn´t stand it, but somehow he managed it to restrain himself. In the end he just sat in his seat quietly, clenching his jaw and tightening his fist to a point where his nails bored into his flesh. There was nothing else he could do anyway. Guilt was a funny thing indeed, when it turned something as innocent as a song into a torture. He didn´t want this song to remind him of Sylar but … well, guilt was a funny thing.

„_When my time comes,_

_forget the wrong that I´ve done,_

_help me leave behind some_

_reasons to be missed._

_Don´t resent me,_

_When you feeling empty_

_Keep me in your memory_

_Leave out all the rest._

_Leave out all the rest …"_

**End of Volume Three**

**...**

**Volume Four**

– "**Sylar´s Legacy" –**

It was seven p.m. when Stanley Summerlin finally left the police station. His shift would have been over at six thirty but the toilet in the women´s restroom had been clogged once again and he had to work longer. God he hated this. One should think the work of a caretaker in the police station was a little more pleasant than in a school or at the train station or something. But people who thought that had no idea what some criminals did in their cells or in the restroom for that matter. God, sometimes Stanley hated that job. But it was necessary that he had it, so he didn´t complain. Not too often at least.

Still today he had to hurry to get home. He´d happened to hear something very interesting today, something his boss would be very fond to hear about. And he was not thinking of the chief of police when he thought about his boss.

Being a caretaker wasn´t the best job with the highest income one could want to have. And everybody had to see how he got his next bill payed. Stanley had found a very lucrative way of earning some extra money. Working in the police station was always good when one needed some information and information were worth a lot in the right circles. A few years ago, Stanley had been introduced to a man who was in constant need for such information.

Okay, introduced was maybe too much to say. He´d never met him and he didn´t know his name. Not his real one at least. He knew they called him superman in some places, or steelchest or just Boss. He went for Boss because it was simpler and made the most sense for him. And tonight he would have an information for the Boss that would earn him a big bunch of money, he was sure of it. Because he´d found out that a certain someone, the Boss had been looking for for quite a while now, had recently been here in Santa Barbara. And the way things looked to Stan, he should still be around. Anyway, the Boss would be very pleased with this information, Stan was sure of it. So he took his old Duster and drove home as fast as he could to make the call.

"Are you sure, it´s him?" the raspy voice of the Boss asked him an hour later on the phone.

"Absolutely." Stanley answered. "I saw his picture on the computer screen and the detectives were talking about him. The way it sounded to me … this guy is right here in Santa Barbara."

There was a brief silence in the line, in which Stanley could only hear the excited breathing of his Boss and his own heartbeat in his ears.

"That was good work of you, Stanley." the voice of his Boss said. "I take the next flight. Make sure someone comes to the airport to get me."

"Of course." was all Stanley said and then the line was disconnected.

Stanley put the handset back in the cradle and waited for his heart to stop racing. Talking to this man had always that effect on him. He was totally creeping him out and Stanley was pretty sure the guy was one hundred percent crazy in the head. But that didn´t matter as long as he payed. And for this he would pay him insanely much, he was sure of it. Tomorrow he would be here.

_To Be Continued ..._


	19. Author's Note

**Author´s Note**

Look look. Here we are. We survived the third story together, isn´t that something? Sure it is. And as I announced, here again a short statement from my side regarding this story. But before I do that my all time warning first: If you haven´t read the story yet and clicked on the author´s note first for curiosity, don´t read this first if you don´t want to spoil your fun.

All right, now let´s go ahead.

The first question first. Why did I end the story like that? I know it´s not the usual way to start at the ending but I think in this case it´s convenient. Well, the answer is simple. I wanted Sylar to be a hero. That´s practically what I wanted him to be from the first season but that´s another thing we won´t discuss here. The guy never makes it easy to believe in him but I never gave up hope. What can I say? I´m the romantic type and I always hope for a happy end. And I know that I didn´t quite write a happy end with this story but some of my constant readers will know that sometimes I create a happy end by killing someone. So, yeah … what can I say?

Let´s get back to the start, shall we? The idea behind this story was, as I said, to make Sylar become a hero at last. Mohinder would somehow find a way to take away Sylar´s abilities and this would backfire drastically. Because it would turn out, that exactly what usually made Sylar such a danger, would be needed to save the world. Ironie.

I struggled a while with a good start for this story, because the first versions I wrote were pretty lame and not very interesting. At least not to me. Initially I started the story with Shawn sitting in front of the Company, watching them. You all read the part. Not too bad to have a short talk between Shawn and Noah to recall what happened in the previous story and to catch up with what happened afterward.

But after I read the chapter over, it was so boring to me that I just couldn´t have that as a start for the whole story. Writers 101: Never put your audience to sleep with the first chapter. A big no-no. So I wrote a new first chapter and so you all came to read how future Shawn went on a killing spree before going home to meet our favorite time traveler Hiro.

I knew that Hiro was supposed to be in that story. It was about the future and how to prevent it. Of course he had to be there. But since he was in Japan, I had to figure out a way to bring him to Santa Barbara in a convincing way. I think my solution to let him teleport by accident, how it happened to him so often in the show, was a good solution. He came to see the future he was supposed to see and on the way he met our heroes Lassiter, Shawn and who else was there in this dark future.

Writing this future part was a special task for me. I took a lot of time to do that, because its color was so different from the rest of this story. I rewatched Five Years Gone a couple of times to get a feeling for this future bit. Maybe you have noticed some influences it had on my description of the future. Just to name one example: Everybody had a totally different haircut in the future.

Karen Vick the usually solemn chief of police wore her hair like a punker and Lassiter of course ran around with long hair and a full beard. Shawn the guy who was always so proud of his hair, cut it so short as if it wasn´t even there. To make a long story short, they all had basically changed to their exact opposites. Something that you could see pretty well in the last scene, when Lassiter was ready to believe in a chance to change the past and Shawn didn´t. Reversed roles for the two of them.

I also wanted Hiro to come back with enough information to start on a mission to save the future. But the same time I wanted to keep him and everybody else in the dark about Sylar´s part in the whole apocalypse. That was the reason why poor Mohinder had to die in the future, so he wouldn´t be able to give Hiro a full explanation. This task was fulfilled by future Shawn and future Shawn lied, so Hiro would lead him to Suresh´s hideout.

In case that wasn´t clear: After the death of Juliet, Gus and Henry, Shawn wanted revenge and just wanted to kill everybody who had a hand in the whole apocalypse. That included a very innocent Suresh and a partly innocent Sylar, who were both hiding, so Shawn wouldn´t find them. The serial killer is hiding from the former almost-cop. Ironic, once again.

After Hiro led Shawn to Mohinder´s place, Shawn sent a fake message to Sylar in Mohinder´s name, to lure him into his trap. And it worked. Shawn was that desperate to kill Sylar for his part in the end that had cause Juliet´s death, that he even killed his own friends when they tried to stop him. All in all a very dark future. Worth to be prevented.

But let´s get back to the present for the moment. There is someone we forgot until now. The other unsung hero of this story. Frank Wieland, the poor guy with the dark ability. His character started as a simple guy, a scientist that worked at C.E.R.N. with the LHC. He was supposed to be the guy that would be truly responsible (even if unknowingly) for the apocalypse. To let him be the guy Mohinder picked up at the very beginning of this story, was an additional thought that came up, halfway through the story. It was the famous icing on the cake, to practically introduce him before we even knew who he was.

He was supposed to have that ability and not know about it (we all know that this is possible). This ability was the reason why he was so fascinated with darkness and ultimately in the ATLAS-Project in C.E.R.N.

Some quick information about the real facts I used for this fictional story. C.E.R.N. really experiments with the Large Hadron Collider to investigate the possible existence of black holes. Those experiments (the ATLAS-Project) have caused a lot of controversies that I can´t repeat right now because it´s been years ago since I read about it. But the people responsible for those experiments always assured that security is most important for them.

What I read about the experiments to create black holes is of course higher science but the way I understood it, they couldn´t even prove that these things truly exist so far. And even if, the theory says that if a black hole would appear, that it would not be bigger than a pinhead and not stay stable for longer than a nanosecond before dissolving itself. Something like that. As I said, I have no clue about such things. It´s all very theoretical.

I for myself didn´t know that C.E.R.N. even existed before I read Dan Brown´s "Illuminati". I admit that I took a few of the descriptions he wrote in his book and used it in this story. The guy is known to do a great deal of research for his books and since I fed off his work because I was too lazy to do research of my own, you can be pretty sure that the places I sent Shawn and the others to, really exist. Up to a certain point at least.

This free fall shaft they fell down, really exists. I have no idea where on C.E.R.N.´s ground it really is and if it really goes all the way down to the LHC (to be honest I doubt that very much) but the construction itself exists. The people at C.E.R.N. use it for fun and maybe also for some experiments, I don´t know. I just thought Shawn would definitely have fun to be in that thing for a while, getting blown around and all. Who would not enjoy that?

The same thing goes for the tunnel they walked through. The LHC is really not more than a very long pipe of about a meter diameter. There are pictures in the internet where you can see that. Btw: I´m pretty sure that there are no heavily armed guards running around in C.E.R.N. It´s just like Gus said, more like a town and even though I´m sure there are security measures to keep the public away from areas where the sensitive experiments happen, I´m sure there are no guards with guns ready to shoot trespassers. That part was just to get some action into my story.

One last thing concerning the part in C.E.R.N. The guy Shawn and the others met at the elevator, Dr. Rudi Van der Meer, was a loving reference to Rudi Carrell, one of Germany´s oldest and dearest entertainer and comedians, originated in the Netherlands. He died some years ago and I just wanted to honor him with this little cameo.

A few other things that I was pretty proud of in this story. I managed it to get a few things in here that Heroes was always known for. The cockroach is one example. I managed that in the second story already, when Mohinder woke up in the cellar after the guard attacked him. If you remember, the little bug crawled past him in that moment. In this story I placed it in Roberta´s diner and let Sylar shoot the poor thing.

The second thing is the car Mohinder drove as a taxi, which was a Nissan just like almost every car on Heroes. Those are just some minor details that don´t do anything for the story, but I kinda like it to bring them up once in a while. It´s like the hidden pineapple for Psych. It just has to be there for good measure. Call it the hidden cockroach and Nissan if you want. One day I´ll manage to bring in the waffles too.

Now we are almost back where we started. At the ending. Sylar´s journey is almost over. To do justice to the ironic color of this story, he was the suspect all the time but for a change he really was innocent from the beginning. All he wanted was to truly start over and to change his life. What he did was following Shawn and watching him. Knowing that Shawn would probably not be that crazy about the idea to hang out with him, he decided to have a piece of his life by watching him from the distance. Call it stalking because that´s what it was. But in Sylar´s mind it was simply the wish to let them be a part of his life somehow. It´s kinda sad when you think about it.

When he noticed that there were things about the case, Shawn was working on that Shawn hadn´t seen so far, he decided to give him a tip. Again, he really just wanted to help. Man, sometimes the guy is so misunderstood, isn´t he? But since he tends to support this with his behavior, Mohinder practically had no other choice but to think that he´d fallen back to be a murderer again, what of course resulted in his slightly exaggerated reaction.

We all know that Sylar doesn´t react well when someone tries to betray him and that was exactly what happened here, when Mohinder lied to him and tried to inject him against his will. He felt that all the trust he´d tried to built up was not valued and (briefly) decided to really go back to be a killer. If that´s what you want, so be it. Just like the first time.

Only this time he faced someone that was different than his usual victims. When Frank mentioned that he´d liked it to feel special because he was different, Sylar was surprised. He hadn´t expected to have something in common with the guy he intended to kill. And not even Sylar could overcome this little thing that is called a conscience. Because despite what Mohinder believed, he´d really meant it that he didn´t want to be a killer anymore.

To let Frank go was the first decision Sylar took that night, that led to him become the hero he was supposed to be. The second one was to call for help, so he wouldn´t destroy the world.

The phone call was the perfect example for history that repeats itself. Sylar calls Mohinder for help and he blows it by doing/saying the wrong thing. Once again. Only this time someone was there to fix his mistake. Juliet took over and saved the day. She also figured out why Sylar was supposed to keep his abilities in order to save the world. And so things could finally come together. Sylar used his ability of understanding, to find out how to stop the apocalypse. And as it turned out, he was the only one who actually could stop it. Only it meant that he had to sacrifice himself.

I need to say something about this last scene. First, I didn´t make Sylar sacrifice himself. That was his choice alone, not mine. If there would have been another way I would have done it. But as I already stated several times, sometimes the story has its own will. And in this situation there simply was no other way and since I couldn´t stop it in any case, I just let him go.

What I could accomplish though was what happened before he left. I wanted Noah and Carlton to team up and I wanted Noah to persuade Carlton into killing Sylar, despite everything he said to him earlier in the story, about not crossing certain lines.

On a sidenote: That the two of them became such good friends was not planned from my side. I wanted Lassiter to be obsessed with the possibility that Sylar would come back to take revenge on them and that he would ask Noah for his files. Initially I wanted them to talk about the advices they´d gotten from their partners, about letting go and all that. They would agree about the fact that they probably should listen to that, knowing that they probably wouldn´t anyway. And that would have been it. They would have said their goodbyes and out.

But the two guys had something else in mind and so Noah stayed. They talked and somehow Noah got a tinge of nostalgia and fatherliness. When he told Carlton that he reminded him of someone he knew from his days at the Company, he was talking about himself (at least I guess so, I can´t know for sure of course). And since he knew where this could lead to, he gave some advises to keep Carlton from suffering the same experience.

Again, it was not my idea to let them bond like that, it just happened. But I had no problem with that because I think they would be a great team together. So here you have a new example of how a story sometimes writes itself. Or better yet, the characters write their own stories. And this of course went all the way through to the end, when Bennet´s old self came back to him and his goal was to kill Sylar, be it necessary to save the world or not. I think this is what he would do. Bennet never believed that Sylar could change and he always wanted to kill him. I wanted Carlton to make up his own mind though, when the time was up. And he did.

The second thing I wanted to happen in this last scene, was Mohinder defending Sylar from Noah. I wanted him to point a gun at Noah while Noah pointed his gun at Sylar. Why? I don´t know. I just had this picture in my head and I wanted it in the story. When Sylar called Mohinder to ask for help, the good doctor screwed up royally once again and he somehow had to make up for that. And he did.

The last thing I have to mention, and I know that some of you might hate me for this, is the kiss. I know you might not be okay with that, especially the so called Shules-shippers among you, but I can´t consider such things when I write something. But before you crucify me, let me explain. Sylar was about to sacrifice himself, to give his life to save the world.

I already established in the previous stories that he was in love with Juliet, even if it was just a little, because of her ability. But fact is that he was in love with her and I just thought that he´d earned a little kiss, in gratitude for what he was ready to do. And that´s all there is about this kiss. It was a gift from her. She didn´t fall in love with him and her feelings for Shawn didn´t change. But she felt pity for Sylar and she was grateful. Nothing more.

The Epilogue where Mohinder listens to that tape was a slight reference to Hannibal Lecter (once again – I seem to compare Sylar to this guy quite a lot but I can´t help it) where Clarice listens to the tapes of her conversations with Dr. Lecter, to find clues in them.

Well, and with that we are at the end again. The hero gave his life and the world is save. The End.

Or not?

Finally I managed it to be true to the tradition of Heroes, to end one season only to introduce the beginning of the next one right away. Say, didn´t I do a great job with this? Because no ending is forever. There is always a new day and there will always be a new challenge. As we saw, this new challenge will be someone that is still about to be introduced in the next story. A story that will be titled: _drum roll_ "Sylar´s Legacy."

What does that try to say? Who knows? You´ll have to read to find out.

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><p><strong>Whoever made it through this whole text with me might leave one last comment to let me know what heshe thinks. The next story will be up soon so don´t go too far away.**

**And thanks for reading.**


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